THE  NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  COMMEMORATION. 


PROCEEDINGS 


ONE  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY 

OF  THE 

INTRODUCTION  AND  ADOPTION 

OF  THE 

"  RESOLUTIONS  RESPECTING  INDEPENDENCY." 

HELD    IN    PHILADELPHIA 

ON  THB 

Evening  of  June  7,  1876, 

AT  THE 

PENNSYLVANIA  ACADEMY  OF  THE  FINE  ARTS, 

AND  ON 

July  i,  1876, 

AT  THB 

HALL  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PRINTED    FOR    THE    COMMITTEE 

MDCCCLXXVI. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
COLLINS,   PRINTER. 


0, 


73 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


IN  the  month  of  March,  1876,  by  direction  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States  Centennial  Commission,  an  Historical 
Department  was  formed,  designed  to  commemorate  and  illus- 
trate the  pre-revolutionary  history  of  the  country,  by  bringing 
together  portraits  of  Colonial  worthies,  documents  of  historical 
interest,  and  personal  memorials  of  the  past ;  and  Colonel 
Frank  M.  Etting  was  requested  to  accept  the  position  of  Chief. 
His  fitness  for  promoting  and  carrying  out  this  object  was 
manifest  from  his  successful  services  in  the  restoration  of 
Independence  Hall  and  the  formation  of  a  JSTatioual  Museum. 
A  committee  was  selected  with  the  approval  of  the  Director- 
General,  and  efforts  were  at  once  made  to  gather  together,  in 
the  brief  time  afforded,  articles  desirable  for  exhibition  in  the 
department ;  appropriate  space  having  been  allotted  in  the  Art 
Building  for  the  purpose.  Subsequently,  it  was  found  neces- 
sary, owing  to  the  large  influx  of  foreign  pictures,  to  cancel 
the  allotment  of  space  to  the  Historical  Department;  and 
thus,  at  the  eleventh  hour,  the  committee  found  the  depart- 
ment at  an  end,  and  themselves  with  a  valuable  collection  on 
their  hands,  but  without  a  place  to  exhibit  it.  In  this  dilemma, 
application  was  made  to  the  President  and  Board  of  Directors 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts,  who  at  once 
liberally  offered  a  portion  of  their  fire-proof  building  for  the 
purpose ;  and  the  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Frank  M. 
Etting,  James  L.  Claghorn,  Francis  S.  Hoffman,  J.  Sergeant 
l 


2  P  II  E  F  A  T  0  R  Y     N  0  T  E . 

Price,  Frederick  D.  Stone,  Charles  Henry  Hart,  Mrs.  Anne 
Hopkinson  Foggo,  Mrs.  Katharine  Johnstoiie  Wharton,  and 
Mrs.  Mary  Johnson  Brown  Chew,  organized  the  historical 
"National  Centennial  Commemoration." 

The  time  selected  for  the  opening  of  the  exhibition  at  the 
Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts  was  the  7th  of  Jane,  the  one  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  the  day  on  which  Richard  Henry  Lee 
offered  in  Congress  the  Resolution  for  Independence.  On  the 
evening  of  that  day  the  invited  guests,  composed  of  the  most 
eminent  of  Philadelphia's  citizens,  and  of  representatives  from 
the  mother  country  and  from  each  of  the  thirteen  original 
States,  assembled  in  the  lecture  room  of  the  Academy ;  when, 
after  a  brief  introduction  by  the  Chairman  of  the  committee, 
a  commemorative  historical  address  was  delivered  by  the  Hon. 
William  Wirt  Henry,  of  Virginia.  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
address,  the  exhibition  was  declared  by  the  Chairman  as  for- 
mally opened,  and  the  guests  proceeded  to  view  the  collection, 
which  occupies  the  northwest  gallery  of  the  building,  on  the 
second  floor. 

A  large  portion  of  the  exhibition  consists  of  paintings,  and 
there  is  also  an  interesting  collection  of  relics  of  historical 
personages.  The  western  end  of  the  room  is  occupied  by 
paintings  by  American  artists,  designed  to  illustrate  the  his- 
tory of  art  in  America.  It  includes  works  by  West,  Pratt, 
Smibert,  Copley,  Hesselius,  Charles  Willson  Peale,  James 
Peale,  Sharpless,  Stuart,  St.  Memin,  Malbone,  Sully,  Allston, 
Theus,  Earle,  and  Pine. 

The  northern  side  of  the. hall  is  occupied  by  exhibits  de- 
signed to  illustrate  the  early  history  of  the  settlements  at 
Plymouth  and  Salem,  made  respectively  by  the  Pilgrim  Asso- 
ciation of  Plymouth,  and  the  Essex  Institute  of  Salem.  In 
the  Plymouth  collection  are  exhibited  a  number  of  interest- 
ing relics,  including  a  table  and  platter  which  belonged  to 
Miles  Standish;  a  model  of  the  vessel  Mayflower;  a  portrait 


PREFATORYNOTE.  6 

of  Paul  Revere;  the  barrel  of  the  gun  which  is  said  to  have 
killed  King  Philip ;  a  chair  over  200  years  old,  which  belonged 
to  Governor  Treat,  of  Connecticut ;  and  a  Bible  which  belonged 
to  John  Alden,  who  came  over  in  the  Mayflower. 

The  Salem  collection  embraces  portraits  of  John  Endicott 
and  Simon  Bradstreet,  the  first  and  last  Governor  of  the 
Colony  under  the  first  charter;  of  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  one 
of  the  patentees  of  Massachusetts;  John  Leverett,  Governor 
of  Massachusetts ;  Timothy  Pickering,  and  others,  while  above 
them  are  draped  the  flags  of  the  Colony.  In  the  cases  of  the 
Essex  Institute  are  exhibited  a  number  of  very  interesting 
documents  and  memorials,  including  the  Royal  charter,  under 
the  great  seal  of  England;  manuscript  record  of  the  witch- 
craft trials,  in  the  handwriting  of  Rev.  Samuel  Parris;  the 
Christening  robe  of  Governor  Bradstreet,  worn  in  1588,  and 
many  others  of  value. 

In  the  northeastern  corner  of  the  room  is  the  collection 
made  to  illustrate  the  career  of  Washington,  and  which  in- 
cludes a  number  of  original  portraits  by  Stuart,  Peale,  Pine, 
and  other  well-known  artists.  There  are  also  scenes  of  Mount 
Vernon,  and  a  picture  of  the  room  in  which  Washington  died. 
The  case  contains  the  miniature  of  Washington  worn  by  Mrs. 
Washington  after  his  death;  the  profile  miniature  on  copper 
by  the  Countess  de  Brehan ;  the  beautiful  miniature  by  James 
Peale  belonging  to  the  Artillery  Corps  Washington  Grays,  and 
a  number  of  others.  Also,  his  spectacles,  surveying  instru- 
ment, silver  cup  and  salver,  portions  of  the  dinner  china  which 
he  used,  and,  possibly  most  interesting  of  all,  a  letter  from  his 
mother,  Mary  Washington,  written  to  her  brother  in  1759,  in 
which  she  speaks  of  "  George"  having  left  the  army.  There 
are  but  two  letters  of  Mary  Washington  known  to  be  in  ex- 
istence, and  this  the  only  one  mentioning  "  George." 

Benjamin  Franklin  is  represented  by  an  extremely  interest- 
ing collection,  embracing  a  number  of  well-known  portraits, 


4  PREFATORYNOTE. 

the  bust  by  Ceracchi,  and  a  painting  representing  him  when 
he  appeared  as  the  representative  of  the  Colonies  at  the  Court 
of  Louis  XVI.  In  the  case  is  the  original  commission  he 
received  from  Congress  to  represent  the  Colonies  in  France, 
together  with  his  "  Letter  of  Instructions,"  each  signed  by 
Henry  Laurens,  President,  and  attested  by  Charles  Thomson, 
Secretary ;  also  his  Air-Pump  and  Insulating-stool,  given  by 
him  to  Francis  Hopkinson ;  and  many  other  personal  memo- 
rials. 

Maryland  and  Virginia  are  represented  by  a  number  of  por- 
traits of  persons  who  bore  an  important  part  in  their  early 
history.  Among  these  are  portraits  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
Pocahontas,  Lord  Baltimore,  Governor  Spottiswoode,  and  Pat- 
rick Henry.  Near  by  are  cases  containing  a  number  of  curious 
relics,  including  the  lines  written  just  before  his  execution  by 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  in  his  own  handwriting,  and  interesting 
letters  from,  among  others,  William  Penn,  George  Fox,  Sir 
Jeffrey  Amherst,  Rev.  George  Whitefield,  Generals  Braddock 
and  Wolfe,  Baron  de  Kalb,  General  Burgoyne,  Lord  Rawdon, 
and  Admiral  Howe. 

In  another  case  are  exhibited  the  Strong  Box  of  Robert 
Morris,  with  his  original  appointment  as  Superintendent  of 
Finance ;  the  silver  shoe-buckles  worn  by  Sam.  Adams  when 
he  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  the  Desk  upon 
which  Jefferson  wrote  the  original  draft  of  the  Declaration ; 
the  wine-glasses  presented  to  Hancock  by  John  Wilkes,  bear- 
ing the  motto  "  Success  to  Wilkes  and  Liberty ;"  the  specta- 
cles of  Wm.  Ellery ;  the  watch  of  Charles  Carroll ;  a  miniature 
of  John  Nixon,  who  read  and  proclaimed  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  publicly  to  the  people  for  the  first  time  July  8th, 
1776,  from  the  Observatory  in  the  State  House  yard;  the  com- 
mission of  Benedict  Arnold;  the  MS.  parole  of  Major  Andrd 
when  a  prisoner  at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  February  23d,  1776, 
together  with  other  souvenirs  of  this  unfortunate  and  inte- 


PREFATORY     NOTE.  5 

resting  officer,  and  of  many  other  characters  of  the  Revolu- 
tion;  while,  in  still  another  case,  are  brought  together  cos- 
tumes of  the  last  century,  household  china  and  glass  of  the 
same  period,  and  the  communion  service  presented  to  Christ 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  Philadelphia,  by  Queen  Anne. 

The  committee  for  the  historical  "National  Centennial 
Commemoration,"  having  charged  itself  with  the  duty  of  dis- 
tinctly marking  the  historical  epochs  leading  up  to  that  which 
the  United  States  Centennial  Commission  was  formed  to  cele- 
brate, and  having  commemorated  the  7th  of  June,  prepared  to 
commemorate  duly  the  2d  of  July,  the  day  on  which  was 
passed  the  Resolution  for  Independence,  the  reasons  for  which 
were  adopted  two  days  later.  As  early  as  the  25th  of  October, 
1875,  the  Committee  on  the  Restoration  of  Independence  Hall 
had  addressed  to  the  most  prominent  American  authors  and 
historical  students  the  following  invitation. 


To 


INDEPENDENCE  HALL. 

PHILADELPHIA,  October  25,  1875. 


SIR  :  The  Committee  on  the  Restoration  of  Independence  Hall  have  resolved 
to  invite  the  presence  of  American  Historians,  Biographers,  and  Literati  at 
that  place  on  the  second  day  of  July,  1876.  They  desire  that  a  Biographical 
sketch  of  every  individual,  whose  memory  is  associated  with  this  Building 
during  the  early  days  of  the  Republic,  maybe  prepared  and  deposited  on  that 
day  among  the  Archives  of  the  National  Museum. 

You  are  respectfully  requested  to  be  present  at  Independence  Hall  on 
the  day  above  mentioned,  and  to  bring  with  yon  a  sketch  of  the  life  of 


or  in  case  of  a  preference  for  another  subject,  to  communicate  the  fact.     It  is 
desired  that  these  sketches  should  not  exceed  two  pages  of  foolscap. 
With  great  respect, 

FRANK  M.  ETTING, 

Chairman  of  the  Committee''' 


li 


PREFATORY     NOTE. 


It  was  thought  appropriate  for  the  two  committees  to  unite 
their  efforts,  and  accordingly  it  was  decided  that  on  the  ad- 
journment of  the  meeting  in  Independence  Hall,  there  should 
be  commemorative  exercises  in  the  State  House  yard ;  and  a 
programme  was  arranged,  and  accomplished  speakers  invited 
to  make  addresses.  These  proceedings  commemorative  of  the 
2d  of  Julj7  form  the  second  part  of  this  publication,  which  is 
designed  as  a  memorial  of  the  Centennial  anniversary  of  the 
introduction  and  passage  of  "Certain  Resolutions  respecting 
Independency." 

CHARLES  HENRY  HART, 
FREDERICK  D.  STONE, 

Committee  on  Publication. 
PHILADELPHIA,  October,  1876. 


THE 


0 


.Anniversary  of  June  jth,  1776. 


PROCEEDINGS 


PENNSYLVANIA  ACADEMY  OF  THE  FINE  ARTS,  JUNE  7,  1876. 


1776. 


JUNE  7. 


1876. 


REMAKES  OF  COL.  ETTING. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : — 

THE  collection  of  portraits  and  memorials  now  about  to  be 
opened  to  tbe  public  is  designed  to  supplement  the  National 
Museum  in  Independence  Hall.  The  Committee  on  the  Re- 
storation of  Independence  Hall  and  the  National  Museum 
Board,  after  steadily  pursuing  our  purpose  for  four  years,  find 
ourselves  cramped  for  room  in  the  State  House.  More  space 
has  been  promised,  but  cannot,  notwithstanding  earnest  efforts 
to  that  effect,  be  had  at  present.  Failing  to  secure  appropriate 
galleries  at  the  Centennial  Exposition — though  Memorial  Hall 
had  been  erected  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  for  this  specific 
purpose — the  Historical  Committee  applied  to  the  President 
of  this  noble  Academy,  who  promptly  and  cordially  gave  up 
adequate  apartments.  Causes,  not  now  to  be  detailed,  have 
induced  the  withdrawal  of  some  of  the  States  from  partici- 
pancy  in  our  commemorative  work,  but  the  Pilgrim  Hall 
Association  and  the  Essex  Institute,  of  Massachusetts,  aided 
by  the  individual  efforts  of  the  ladies  of  Baltimore  and  of 
Philadelphia,  enable  us  to  offer  you  a  highly  interesting  and 
instructive  collection.  The  intent  of  the  Committee,  as  you 
are  aware,  is  to  trace  the  history  of  the  country  for  nearly 
two  hundred  years  from  its  first  settlement  in  1607,  and  while 
we  revive  every  event  in  the  progressive  advance  of  true 
liberty,  we  shall  be  enabled  to  realize  the  vitality  of  the  men — 

2 


10  THENATIONAL 

the  Founders  of  the  country — in  their  persons,  and  thus  keep 
in  view  as  exemplars  the  principles  for  which  they  struggled. 

Among  the  events  incumbent  upon  us  to  commemorate  in 
this  Centennial  season,  is  that  which  achieves  its  one  hun- 
dredth anniversary  this  day — June  7,  1876. 

The  official  record  kept  by  Charles  Thomson,  and  published 
at  the  time  that  tried  men's  souls,  is  meagre  in  the  extreme 
— thus,  "certain  resolutions  respecting  independency  being 
moved  and  seconded,"  etc.  But  I  have  before  me  an  auto- 
graphic tracing  of  these  resolutions ;  it  is  in  the  handwriting 
of  Richard  Henry  Lee  ;  it  reads — 

"Resolved,  That  these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought 
to  be,  free  and  independent  States,  that  they  are  absolved 
from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and  that  all  political 
connection  between  them  and  the  State  of  Great  Britain  is, 
and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved." 

Thus  was  taken  the  first  step  in  the  National  Councils 
towards  the  birth  of  the  nation.  While  we  leave  each  suc- 
cessive one  to  be  appropriately  marked,  we  seem  called  upon 
to  look  at  the  promptings  of  this,  the  initiative.  We  find  it 
was  ordered  to  be  taken  by  the  Colony  of  Virginia,  in  Conven- 
tion, and  that,  among  the  members  of  that  Convention,  one 
name  stands  out  in  bold  relief — Patrick  Henry.  Who,  then, 
so  appropriate  to  recount  to  you  this  evening  the  events  of 
our  Centennial  as  his  grandson,  a  gentleman  who,  by  birth- 
right, preserves  the  private  papers  of  Mr.  Henry,  while  he 
brings  to  bear  upon  the  investigation,  not  only  all  the  energy 
prompted  by  filial  duty,  but  the  advantages  of  high  legal 
attainments  and  experience.  He  is  the  namesake  (and  at  the 
request  of  Mr.  Wirt)  of  Mr.  Henry's  great  biographer. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  I  have  the  pleasure  of  presenting  to 
you,  as  the  orator  of  the  evening  Mr.  WILLIAM  WIRT  HENRY, 
of  Virginia. 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  11 


ADDRESS  OF  ME.  HENEY. 

LADIES   AND    GENTLEMEN  OF  THE    COMMITTEE,  AND  FELLOW- 
CITIZENS  : 

Permit  me  to  congratulate  you  of  the  Committee  on  the 
happy  conception  and  admirable  realization  of  the  design 
to  aid  in  commemorating  the  birth  of  the  nation,  by  illus- 
trations of  its  early  history.  To  be  able  to  look  on  the 
noble  faces  of  the  great  founders  of  our  republic,  preserved 
by  brush  and  chisel  in  the  hand  of  genius;  to  handle  the 
familiar  articles  which  they  used,  and  which  a  pious  care  has 
preserved  as  Lares  of  the  household,  relics  more  precious  than 
the  heir-looms  of  princes,  does  indeed  bring  us  face  to  face 
with  the  illustrious  dead,  and  enables  us  to  see,  and  to  touch, 
as  it  were,  the  honored  men  whose  names  we  have  been  taught 
to  revere  from  childhood,  the  fruits  of  whose  arduous  and 
perilous  labors  we  have  inherited,  and  which  it  becomes  us  to 
transmit  to  our  posterity,  wasted  by  no  prodigal  hand.  And 
while  we  gaze  on  the  features  of  those  who  have  shed  such 
lustre  upon  our  Continent  and  upon  our  race,  how  naturally 
are  we  reminded  of  the  noble  principles  which  actuated  their 
conduct,  and  made  them  of  the  great  men  of  the  world — prin- 
ciples which  they  laid  deep  as  the  foundations  upon  which 
they  built  a  temple  for  the  goddess  of  Liberty,  and  which  they 
commended  to  our  constant,  vigilant  care,  in  those  words  of 
solemn  warning,  verified  in  the  experience  of  so  many  nations: 
"K"o  free  government  or  the  blessing  of  liberty  can  be  pre- 
served to  any  people,  but  by  a  firm  adherence  to  justice,  mode- 
ration, temperance,  frugality,  and  virtue,  and  by  frequent 
recurrence  to  fundamental  principles."  Let  us  honor  our 
fathers,  that  the  days  of  our  freedom  may  be  long  in  the  land 
which  the  Lord  our  God  hath  given  us.  The  day  selected  for 
the  opening  of  this  exhibition  is  peculiarly  appropriate,  as  it 


12  THE    NATIONAL 

marks  the  time  when  independence  was  moved  in  the  Con- 
gress of  the  Colonies,  the  final  throe  in  the  birth  of  the 
Nation ;  and  I  thank  you  for  the  honor  done  me  in  asking 
that  I  represent  on  this  occasion  the  State  at  whose  command 
the  motion  was  made.  If  in  doing  so  I  should  speak  mostly 
of  Virginia,  it  will  not  be  from  any  intention  of  doing  injus- 
tice to  the  other  Colonies — each  of  whom  has  a  bright  record 
in  the  struggle  for  independence,  but  because  the  occasion 
requires  me  to  speak  more  particularly  of  her. 

The  action  of  Virginia,  culminating  in  her  motion  on  the 
7th  of  June,  1776,  needs  no  justification  at  my  hands  to-day. 
Mankind  have  vied  in  her  praises,  and  Great  Britain  herself 
has  learned  to  honor  her ;  yea,  if  we  are  permitted  to  judge  of 
the  councils  of  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  by  the  blessings 
which  have  descended,  heaven  itself  has  set  its  seal  of  appro- 
bation to  her  acts. 

It  is  proper,  however,  as  we  stand  here  to-day  to  commemo- 
rate her  motion,  to  glance,  rapidly  it  must  be,  at  the  events 
which  preceded  and  prompted  it.  When  we  look  at  the  first 
settlements  of  Europeans  on  this  continent  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  we  find  that  they  were  induced  by  various  motives. 
Led  by  the  love  of  adventure,  of  wealth,  or  of  glory,  or  driven 
by  the  lash  of  persecution,  English,  Scotch,  Irish,  Dutch, 
Swedish,  and  French  contributed  to  the  planting  of  a  new 
nation  on  the  virgin  soil  of  America,  which,  assimilating  its 
different  elements,  put  forth  a  new  and  peculiar  growth,  des- 
tined far  to  outstrip  the  stocks  from  whence  it  sprang.  But, 
by  whatever  motives  impelled,  and  however  diverse  in  their 
opinions,  their  prejudices  or  their  manners,  whether  Puritans 
in  New  England,  or  Episcopalians  in  Virginia,  Quakers  in 
Pennsylvania,  or  Catholics  in  Maryland,  all  united  in  a  com- 
mon love  of  liberty,  and  a  determination  to  try  the  experiment 
of  self-government  on  a  more  liberal  plan  than  had  ever  been 
attempted  before.  The  elective  franchise,  the  General  Assem- 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  13 

bly,  the  trial  by  jury,  and  the  habeas  corpus  were  common 
possessions ;  and  possessed  of  these  great  characteristics  and 
safeguards  of  liberty,  far  removed  from  the  power  of  the 
mother  country,  under  liberal  charters,  and  stimulated  by  that 
spirit  of  personal  independence  peculiar  to  emigrants  to  a  new 
and  savage  land,  the  Colonies  soon  developed  into  communi- 
ties of  enterprise,  of  wealth,  and  of  singular  attachment  to 
free  institutions  ;  communities  in  which  were  read  the  works 
of  John  Milton,  John  Locke,  and  Algernon  Sydney,  and 
whose  citizens  held  with  them  that  freedom  is  the  native 
right  of  man. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  the  wealth  of  the  Colonies 
attracted  the  cupidity  of  the  mother  country,  and  one  of 
the  most  memorable  of  the  acts  of  that  Parliament  which 
restored  royalty  to  the  British  throne,  was  the  passage  of  a 
navigation  law  which  gave  a  monopoly  of  their  commerce 
to  British  merchants.  This  act,  frequently  amended  only  to 
be  made  more  odious,  was  submitted  to  by  the  Colonies  as  an 
exercise  of  the  power  of  Great  Britain  to  regulate  trade,  and 
not  until  1760,  when  it  was  determined  to  break  up  the  con- 
stant evasion  of  the  detested  law  by  general  warrants,  author- 
izing search  and  apprehension  at  the  discretion  of  the  officers 
holding  them,  did  the  dangerous  power  exercised  by  the  mo- 
ther country  become  the  subject  of  discussion  and  alarm.  In 
resisting  the  issuing  of  these  "  Writs  of  Assistance,"  so  repug- 
nant to  the  British  constitution,  James  Otis,  of  Massachusetts, 
the  most  brilliant  of  her  orators,  electrified  his  Colony.  In 
his  audience  there  sat  a  young  man,  his  equal  in  genius  if  not 
in  oratory,  whose  soul  was  filled  with  delight  at  the  great 
doctrines  of  natural  and  of  English  freedom  which  the  orator 
proclaimed ;  and  who,  at  once  throwing  his  whole  soul  into 
the  struggle  for  constitutional  liberty,  himself  with  matchless 
eloquence  stood  forth  afterwards  a  most  distinguished  cham- 
pion of  American  rights.  Happy  Massachusetts!  Happy 


14  THENATIONAL 

America !    The  electric  spark  emitted  by  the  genius  of  James 
Otis  kindled  the  genius  of  John  Adams. 

But  the  rapacity  of  Great  Britain  did  not  stop  at  laws  by 
which  her  merchants  and  ship-owners  might  grow  rich  at 
the  expense  of  her  Colonies.  Her  treasury,  exhausted  by 
war,  must  needs  be  replenished,  and  the  taxation  of  America 
was  determined  on.  Liberal  charters  stood  in  the  way,  and 
these  it  was  planned  to  recall,  and  to  substitute  in  their 
stead  one  uniform,  arbitrary  system  of  government.  To  im- 
pose a  direct  tax  at  first  was  deemed  too  bold  a  measure,  and 
the  expedient  was  devised  of  a  stamp  act,  which  executing 
itself,  and  bearing  but  lightly  in  its  collection,  it  was  fondly 
hoped  would  arouse  no  opposition  to  its  enforcement.  On  the 
9th  of  March,  1764,  therefore,  George  Grenville,  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer,  in  unfolding  the  budget  in  Parliament  gave 
notice  that  at  the  next  session  a  bill  would  be  introduced 
imposing  stamp  duties  in  America.  The  intelligence  of  this 
intention  produced  the  profoundest  sensation  throughout  the 
Colonies.  The  right  to  say  through  their  own  representatives 
what  taxes  they  should  bear,  was  one  fundamental  to  the 
British  constitution,  and  secured  to  them  by  their  charters, 
and  they  could  not  admit  that  the  British  Parliament  repre- 
sented them  who  had  no  voice  in  the  selection  of  its  members, 
and  who  had  their  own  Assemblies  vested  with  the  power  of 
taxation.  The  voice  of  Boston  was  first  heard  in  her  instruc- 
tions to  her  delegates  in  the  Colonial  Assembly,  prepared  by 
Samuel  Adams,  aptly  styled  the  Palinurus  of  the  Revolution. 
These  were  followed  by  the  noble  argument  of  James  Otis,  in 
his  pamphlet  entitled  "  The  Rights  of  the  British  Colonies 
Asserted  and  Proved."  The  alarm  sounded  in  Massachusetts 
was  taken  up  in  the  other  Colonies,  and  petitions  and  remon- 
strances against  the  proposed  act  were  forwarded  by  the 
Assemblies  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania, South  Carolina,  and  Virginia.  Their  remonstrances 


CENTENNIAL  COMMEMORATION.          15 

proved  vain.  But  few  voices  opposed  the  act  on  its  passage 
in  the  House  of  Commons — none  in  the  House  of  Lords — and 
on  the  22d  of  March,  1765,  the  King,  bereft  of  his  reason, 
gave  his  assent,  through  a  commission.  Had  Parliament  as 
well  as  the  King  been  afflicted  with  insanity,  no  greater  mis- 
take could  have  been  committed.  The  news  of  the  passage  of 
the  act  produced  the  most  widespread  consternation  in  the 
Colonies.  Their  views  of  their  rights  were  unchanged,  but  it 
was  one  thing  to  remonstrate  against  a  proposed  act,  and 
quite  another  to  resist  a  law.  The  first  was  the  right  of  every 
British  subject ;  the  last  was  rebellion.  A  sullen  submission 
was  all  that  could  be  expected — was  all  that  could  be  yielded — 
but  submission  was  deemed  inevitable  in  every  quarter. 

The  time  was  short  when  the  dreaded  law  must  take  effect, 
and  all  they  contended  for  seemed  about  to  be  lost,  and  if  once 
lost,  lost  forever ;  for  the  principle  once  yielded  could  never 
be  reclaimed.  Despondency  spread  her  black  wings  over  the 
land,  brooding  despair,  and  the  sorrows  of  death  compassed 

the  patriot  cause. 

• 

"  Fear  at  its  heart,  as  at  a  cop, 
Its  life-blood  seemed  to  sip." 

Even  the  eloquent  tongue  of  Otis,  the  great  champion  of 
American  liberty,  faltered ;  and  admitting  Britain's  right  of 
taxation,  he  deplored  resistance,  and  thus  gave  up  the  great 
issue.  All  the  hope  he  had  was  that  a  united,  loyal  petition 
might  move  the  compassion  of  that  Sovereign  whose  ear  had 
been  found  deaf  to  the  demands  of  justice. 

But  the  Divinity  that  shapes  our  ends  had  ordered  other- 
wise. God  had  not  left  Israel  without  a  prophet.  Suddenly 
Virginia  was  heard  denouncing  the  law  as  "  void  and  destruc- 
tive to  British  and  American  liberty ;"  speaking  now,  for 
the  first  time,  through  one  whose  trumpet  tones  echoed  and 
re-echoed  throughout  America,  where 

"  Every  mouutain  now  hath  found  a  tongue ;" 


16  THE    NA  TION AL 

arousing  the  patriot  cause  from  its  death-like  torpor,  and  re- 
verberating in  the  very  palace  of  the  British  King,  warning 
him  that  an  outraged  people  had  once  dragged  a  tyrant  from 
that  palace  to  the  bloody  block.  It  was  the  voice  of  her 

"  Henry,  the  forest-born  Demosthenes, 
Whose  thunder  shook  the  Philip  of  the  seas." 

Had  it  sounded  from  heaven  in  the  ears  of  the  desponding 
Colonies,  the  effect  could  scarcely  have  been  more  sudden  or 
more  startling. 

The  pent-up  indignation  of  America,  which,  like  a  black 
cloud  overcasting  the  heavens,  seemed  slowly  approaching  the 
horizon  to  be 

"  In  the  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean  buried," 

as  by  an  electric  flash  was  suddenly  discharged,  and  poured 
forth  such  a  torrent  as  overwhelmed  all  who  vainly  attempted 
to  withstand  its  flood.  "No  taxation  without  representa- 
tion !  resistance  to  the  stamp  act !"  were  suddenly  heard  on 
every  side,  and  so*  terrible  was  the  passion  of  the  people,  now 
thoroughly  aroused  and  lashed  into  a  tempest,  that  when  the 
time  arrived  for  the  commencement  of  the  tax  no  man  in 
America  was  bold  enough  to  act  as  the  distributor  of  stamps. 
The  British  administration  itself  was  overwhelmed,  and,  bow- 
ing to  the  storm  it  had  raised  but  could  not  rule,  repealed 
the  obnoxious  act.  But  the  day-star  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution had  arisen  with  healing  for  the  nations  in  its  beams. 
America  had  felt  her  own  power,  and  henceforth  it  was  im- 
possible to  rivet  upon  her  the  manacles  forged  by  her  tyrants. 
The  ever-memorable  action  of  Virginia  was  embodied  in  her 
resolutions  passed  the  30th  of  May,  1765,  in  these  words: — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  first  adventurers  and  settlers  of  this 
his  Majesty's  colony  and  dominion,  brought  with  them  and 
transmitted  to  their  posterity  and  all  other  his  Majesty's  sub- 


CENTENNIAL     COMMEMORATION.  17 

jects  since  inhabiting  in  this  his  Majesty's  colony,  all  the  privi- 
leges, franchises,  and  immunities  that  have  at  any  time  been 
held,  enjoyed,  and  possessed  by  the  people  of  Great  Britain. 

"  Resolved,  That  by  two  royal  charters  granted  by  King 
James  I.,  the  colonists  aforesaid  are  declared  entitled  to  all 
the  privileges,  liberties,  and  immunities  of  denizens  and 
natural-born  subjects,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  if  they 
had  been  abiding  and  born  within  the  realm  of  England. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  taxation  of  the  people  by  themselves, 
or  by  persons  chosen  by  themselves  to  represent  them,  who 
can  only  know  what  taxes  the  people  are  able  to  bear,  and 
the  easiest  mode  of  raising  them,  and  are  equally  affected  by 
such  taxes  themselves,  is  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of 
British  freedom,  and  without  which  the  ancient  constitution 
cannot  subsist. 

"  Resolved,  That  his  Majesty's  liege  people  of  this  most 
ancient  Colony  have  uninterruptedly  enjoyed  the  right  of 
being  thus  governed  by  their  own  Assembly  in  the  article  of 
their  taxes  and  internal  police,  and  that  the  same  hath  never 
been  forfeited  or  in  any  other  way  given  up,  but  hath  been 
constantly  recognized  by  the  kings  and  people  of  Great 
Britain. 

"  Resolved  therefore,  That  the  General  Assembly  of  this 
Colony  have  the  sole  right  and  power  to  lay  taxes  and  im- 
positions upon  the  inhabitants  of  this  Colony,  and  that  every 
attempt  to  vest  such  power  in  any  person  or  persons  what- 
soever, other  than  the  General  Assembly  aforesaid,  has  a 
manifest  tendency  to  destroy  British  as  well  as  American 
freedom." 

The  author  of  these  resolutions,  which  rent  an  empire,  left 
a  copy  in  his  own  handwriting,  which  I  now  hold  in  my 
hand,  and,  desiring  to  be  remembered  by  posterity  for  this 
act,  he  claims,  by  the  endorsement  he  made  on  the  paper,  that 
by  their  passage  "  the  great  point  of  resistance  to  British 
3 


18  THENATIONAL 

taxation  was  universally  established  in  the  Colonies.  This 
brought  on  the  war  which  finally  separated  the  two  countries, 
and  gave  independence  to  ours." 

I  need  not  detail  the  subsequent  renewal  of  the  effort  to 
tax  America  by  another  mode,  culminating  in  the  occupation 
of  Boston  by  British  soldiers,  and  the  assembling  of  the 
Congress  of  1774,  in  Carpenters'  Hall  ;  but  I  will  hurry  on 
to  the  events  immediately  preceding  the  day  we  celebrate. 

The  war  between  the  Colonies  and  Great  Britain  was  waged 
at  first  in  defence  of  political  rights,  but  with  no  thought  of 
final  separation  between  the  countries,  except  perhaps  by  a 
few,  who,  endowed  with  more  of  prophetic  ken  than  their 
fellows,  saw  the  end  from  the  beginning.  Certain  it  is,  that 
in  all  the  public  papers  issued  by  those  who  had  a  right  to 
speak  for  the  people,  the  idea  of  separation  was  carefully  dis- 
owned. The  Congress  of  September,  1774,  in  its  address  to 
the  king,  used  these  words :  "  Your  royal  authority  over  us, 
and  our  connection  with  Great  Britain,  we  shall  always  care- 
fully and  zealously  endeavor  to  support  and  maintain."  And 
the  Congress  of  1775,  in  its  address  of  the  6th  of  July,  setting 
forth  the  causes  and  reasons  for  taking  up  arms,  said :  "  Lest 
this  declaration  should  disquiet  the  minds  of  our  friends  and 
fellow-subjects  in  any  part  of  the  Empire,  we  assure  them  that 
we  mean  not  to  dissolve  that  union  which  has  so  long  and  so 
happily  subsisted  between  us,  and  which  we  sincerely  wish  to 
see  restored."  This  address  was  penned  by  Thomas  Jefferson, 
and  was  read  amid  thundering  huzzas  in  every  market-place, 
fervent  prayers  in  nearly  every  pulpit,  and  booming  cannon 
in  the  patriot  army. 

As  late  as  the  29th  of  November,  1775,  we  find  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  declaring  in  their  letter  to  the  agents  of  the 
Colonies  in  England,  that  "  There  is  nothing  more  ardently 
desired  by  North  America  than  a  lasting  union  with  Great 
Britain,  on  terms  of  just  and  equal  liberty."  Nor  did  the  Con- 


CENTENNIAL  COMMEMORATION.          19 

gress  alone  bear  witness  to  the  desire  of  the  Colonies.  On  the 
9th  of  November,  1775,  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  instructed 
her  delegates  to  resist  any  move  in  the  direction  of  independ- 
ence. On  the  28th  of  November,  the  New  Jersey  Assembly  gave 
similar  instructions  to  her  delegates.  On  the  7th  of  December, 
the  Maryland  Convention  declared  that  the  people  of  that 
Colony  "  Never  did,  nor  do,  entertain  any  views  or  desires  of 
independency."  On  the  1 4th  of  December,  the  New  York  Pro- 
vincial Congress  declared  that  their  people  had  not  withdrawn 
their  allegiance,  and  that  their  turbulent  state  did  not  arise 
"  From  a  desire  to  become  independent  of  the  British  crown." 
On  the  25th  of  December,  the  town  of  Portsmouth,  New 
Hampshire,  instructed  their  delegates  in  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress to  resist  the  formation  of  local  government,  "  To  show 
that  they  were  not  aiming  at  independency."  The  North 
Carolina  Provincial  Congress,  in  an  address  which  was  adopted 
on  the  8th  of  September,  1775,  disclaimed  in  earnest  terms  the 
design  of  independence.  The  other  Colonies  also  gave  full 
assurance  that  independence  was  not  their  desire.  But  the 
government  of  Great  Britain  was  not  content,  and  the  king 
preferred  American  independence  to  the  continuance  of  the 
connection  on  American  principles.  In  December,  1775,  was 
enacted  the  bill  prohibiting  all  traffic  with  America,  and  sub- 
stantially declaring  war.  The  effect  of  this  and  other  measures 
consequent,  was  soon  manifested  in  the  Colonies,  and  inde- 
pendence was  openly  discussed.  Left  without  their  regular 
government,  they  had,  early  in  the  war,  resorted  to  temporary 
expedients,  and  thus  had  become  accustomed  to  the  exercise 
of  independent  powers,  though  in  every  instance  the  taking 
up  of  government  was  declared  to  be  temporary,  and  to  end 
when  reconciliation  was  accomplished.  The  spring  of  1776 
found  a  great  change  in  the  feeling  of  the  Colonies.  All  hope 
of  reconciliation  seemed  to  have  been  lost  by  the  great  bulk  of 
the  people,  and  submission  or  independence  were  the  only  alter- 


20  THE    NATIONAL 

natives  left ;  but  they  still  hesitated  to  take  the  final  step.  The 
Convention  of  Virginia  was  fixed  to  meet  the  6th  of  May, 
and  the  elections  of  the  delegates  revealed  the  state  of  public 
feeling  there.  In  many,  if  not  most,  of  the  counties,  the 
candidates  were  required  to  pledge  themselves  to  a  final  sepa- 
ration from  Great  Britain.  As  a  specimen  of  the  instructions 
given  to  their  delegates,  listen  to  the  following  from  the 
county  of  Charlotte — my  native  county,  I  am  proud  to  say — 
to  Paul  Carrington  and  Thomas  Read,  her  delegates,  dated  23d 
April,  1776,  and  the  earliest  move  for  independence  of  any 
community  I  have  ever  met  with,  which  has  been  clearly  estab- 
lished :  "  Despairing  of  any  redress  of  our  grievances  from  the 
King  and  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  and  all  hopes  of  a 
reconciliation  between  her  and  the  United  Colonies  being  now 
at  an  end,  and  being  conscious  that  their  treatment  has  been 
such  as  loyal  subjects  did  not  deserve,  and  to  which  as  freemen 
we  are  determined  not  to  submit ;  by  the  unanimous  approba- 
tion and  direction  of  the  whole  freeholders,  and  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  this  county,  we  advise  and  instruct  you  cheerfully  to 
concur  and  give  your  best  assistance  in  our  Convention,  to 
push  to  the  utmost  a  war — offensive  and  defensive — until  you 
are  certified  that  such  proposals  of  peace  are  made  to  our 
General  Congress  as  shall  by  them  be  judged  just  and  friendly. 
*****  And  we  give  it  you  in  charge  to  use  your  best 
endeavors  that  the  delegates  which  are  sent  to  the  General 
Congress  be  instructed  immediately  to  cast  ott'  the  British 
yoke,  and  to  enter  into  commercial  alliances  with  any  nation 
or  nations  friendly  to  our  cause.  And  as  King  George  III.,  of 
Great  Britain,  has  manifested  deliberate  enmity  towards  us, 
and,  under  the  character  of  a  parent,  persists  in  behaving  as  a 
tyrant,  that  they,  in  our  behalf,  renounce  allegiance  to  him 
forever ;  and  that,  taking  the  God  of  heaven  to  be  our  king, 
and  depending  on  his  protection  and  assistance,  they  plan  out 
that  form  of  government  which  may  the  most  effectually 


CENTENNIAL  COMMEMORATION.          21 

secure  to  us  the  enjoyment  of  our  civil  and  religious  rights 
and  principles  to  the  latest  posterity." 

Brave  words  from  the  grand  old  county  of  Charlotte !  Well 
worthy  to  become  the  last  resting-place  of  him  who  "gave 
the  first  impulse  to  the  ball  of  the  revolution."  Elected  by 
such  constituents  the  convention  could  not  be  other  than  a 
noble  body.  It  was  looked  to  by  all  the  Colonies  with  the 
earnest  expectation  that  the  wisdom  of  its  councils  might 
resolve  their  doubts  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued.  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  not  knowing  that  he  might  be  able  to  leave  his 
seat  in  Congress  to  attend  its  sessions,  wrote  to  Patrick  Henry 
from  Philadelphia  on  the  20th  of  April,  1776,  to  urge  that 
the  decisive  step  be  taken.  Said  he :  "I  invite  your  attention 

9 

to  the  most  important  concerns  of  our  approaching  conven- 
tion. Ages  yet  unborn,  and  millions  existing  at  present,  may 
rue  or  bless  that  assembly,  on  which  their  happiness  or  misery 
will  so  eminently  depend.  Virginia  has  hitherto  taken  the 
lead  in  great  affairs,  and  many  nowr  look  to  her  with  anxious 
expectation,  hoping  that  the  spirit,  wisdom,  and  energy  of  her 
councils  will  arouse  America  from  the  fatal  lethargy  into 
which  feebleness,  folly,  and  interested  views  of  the  proprie- 
tary governments,  with  the  aid  of  Tory  machinations,  have 
thrown  her  most  unhappily."  After  arguing  the  necessity  of 
immediately  declaring  Independence,  forming  a  permanent 
government,  and  seeking  foreign  alliances,  he  adds:  "This  I 
take  to  be  the  time  and  thing  meant  by  Shakspeare,  when  he 
says,  'There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  men,. which,  taken  at  the 
flood,  leads  on  to  fortune;  that  omitted,  we  are  ever  after 
bound  in  shallows.' " 

And,  in  truth,  no  nobler  band  of  patriots  ever  met  together 
than  assembled  in  that  convention.  Its  roll  contained  nearly 
all  of  the  great  men  of  Virginia,  at  a  time  when  Virginia 
would  not  suffer  in  comparison  with  any  State,  ancient  or 
modern.  Listen  to  the  names  of  some  of  the  most  conspic- 


22  THE    NATIONAL 

uous:  Edmund  Pendleton,  Richard  Bland,  Eobert  Carter 
Nicholas,  John  Blair,  Edmund  Randolph,  William  Cabell, 
Henry  Tazewell,  Benjamin  Harrison,  Archibald  Gary,  George 
Wythe,  Thomas  Nelson,  Thomas  Jefferson,  George  Mason, 
Richard  Henry  Lee,  and  Patrick  Henry.  One  name,  the 
grandest  of  all,  was  missing  from  its  accustomed  place  on  that 
roll,  but  Virginia  had  given  her  Washington  to  America,  that 
like  a  saviour  he  might  lead  her  through  the  "  Valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death,"  to  glorious  victory  and  peace,  and  he  was 
now  at  the  head  of  her  armies — 

"Our  tower  of  strength, 
Which  stood  four-square  to  all  the  winds  that  blew." 

• 
The  honor  of  presiding  over  the  convention  was  conferred 

on  Edmund  Pendleton.  On  the  14th  of  May,  the  body  sat  as 
a  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Colony,  with 
Archibald  Gary  in  the  chair.  On  that  day  General  Thomas 
Nelson,  the  most  popular  man  in  the  Colony,  of  unhounded 
generosity,  fortitude,  and  patriotism,  moved  the  following 
resolves,  which  had  been  drawn  by  Edmund  Pendleton:— 

"  Forasmuch  as  all  the  endeavors  of  the  United  Colonies, 
by  the  most  decent  representation  and  petitions  to  the  king 
and  parliament  of  Great  Britain,  to  restore  peace  and  security 
to  America  under  the  British  government,  and  a  reunion  with 
that  people  upon  just  and  liberal  terms,  instead  of  a  redress 
of  grievances,  have  produced  from  an  imperious  and  vindic- 
tive administration  increased  insult,  oppression,  and  a  vigor- 
ous attempt  to  effect  our  total  destruction ;  by  a  late  act  all 
these  colonies  are  declared  to  be  in  rebellion,  and  out  of  the 
protection  of  the  British  crown;  our  properties  subjected  to 
confiscation ;  our  people,  when  captivated,  compelled  to  join 
in  the  murder  and  plunder  of  their  relatives  and  countrymen, 
and  all  former  rapine  and  oppression  of  Americans  declared 
legal  and  just;  fleets  and  armies  are  raised,  and  the  aid  of 


CENTENNIAL  COMMEMORATION.          23 

foreign  troops  engaged  to  assist  these  destructive  purposes. 
The  King's  representative  in  this  Colony  hath  not  only  with- 
held all  powers  of  government  from  operating  for  our  safety, 
hut,  having  retired  on  board  an  armed  ship,  is  carrying  on  a 
piratical  and  savage  war  against  us,  tempting  our  slaves  by 
every  artifice  to  resort  to  him,  and  training  and  employing 
them  against  their  masters.  In  this  state  of  extreme  danger 
we  have  no  alternative  left  but  an  abject  submission  to  the 
will  of  these  overbearing  tyrants,  or  a  total  separation  from 
the  crown  and  government  of  Great  Britain,  uniting  and 
exerting  the  strength  of  all  America  for  defence,  and  forming 
alliances  with  foreign  powers  for  commerce  -and  aid  in  war. 
"Wherefore,  appealing  to  the  Searcher  of  Hearts  for  the  sin- 
cerity of  former  declarations,  expressing  our  desire  to  preserve 
the  connection  with  that  nation,  and  that  we  are  driven  from 
that  inclination  by  their  wicked  councils  and  the  eternal  laws 
of  self-preservation, 

"  Resolved  unanimously,  That  the  delegates  appointed  to  rep- 
resent this  Colony  in  General  Congress  be  instructed  to  pro- 
pose to  that  respectable  body  to  declare  the  United  Colonies 
free  and  independent  States,  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to 
or  dependence  upon  the  Crown  or  Parliament  of  Great  Britain ; 
and  that  they  give  the  assent  of  this  Colony  to  such  declara- 
tion, and  to  whatever  measures  may  be  thought  proper  and 
necessary  by  Congress  for  forming  foreign  alliances  and  a  con- 
federation of  the  colonies  at  such  time  and  in  the  manner  as 
to  them  shall  seem  best.  Provided,  that  the  power  of  forming 
government  for,  and  the  regulations  of,  the  internal  concerns 
of  each  Colony  be  left  to  the  respective  Colonial  Legislatures. 

'•'•Resolved  unanimously,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to 
prepare  a  Declaration  of  Rights  and  such  a  plan  of  government 
as  will  be  most  likely  to  maintain  peace  and  order  in  this 
Colony,  and  to  secure  substantial  and  equal  liberty  to  the 
people." 


24  THENATIONAL 

These  resolutions  were  discussed  on  that  and  the  succeeding 
day  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  and  on  the  15th  of  May  were 
reported  to  the  House,  according  to  custom,  by  Archibald 
Gary,  who  had  presided  over  the  committee,  and  the  record 
shows  they  were  unanimously  agreed  to  by  the  House,  112 
members  being  present. 

From  an  oration  delivered  by  Edmund  Randolph  at  the 
grave  of  Edmund  Pendleton,  and  from  a  fragment  of  a 
hitherto  unpublished  manuscript  history  of  Virginia  by  the 
same  eminent  person,  I  am  enabled  to  give  you  a  sketch  of 
this  memorable  occasion.  Says  Edmund  Randolph :  "  When 
the  disposition  of  the  people  as  exhibited  by  their  represen- 
tatives could  not  be  mistaken,  Henry  had  full  indulgence  of 
his  own  private  judgment,  and  he  concerted  with  Nelson 
that  he  (Nelson)  should  introduce  the  question  of  independ- 
ence, and  that  Henry  should  enforce  it.  Nelson  affected 
nothing  of  oratory,  except  what  ardent  feelings  might  inspire, 
and,  characteristic  of  himself,  he  had  no  fears  of  his  own 
with  which  to  temporize,  and  supposing  that  others  ought 
to  have  none,  he  passed  over  the  probabilities  of  foreign  aid, 
stepped  lightly  on  the  difficulties  of  procuring  military  stores 
and  the  inexperience  of  officers  and  soldiers,  but  pressed  a 
declaration  of  independence,  upon  what  with  him  were  incon- 
trovertible grounds,  that  we  were  oppressed,  had  humbly  sup- 
plicated a  redress  of  grievances  which  had  been,  refused  with 
insult ;  and  that  to  return  from  battle  against  the  sovereign 
with  the  cordiality  of  subjects  was  absurd.  It  was  expected 
that  a  declaration  of  independence  would  certainly  be  passed, 
and  for  obvious  reasons  Mr.  Henry  seemed  allotted  to  crown 
his  political  conduct  with  this  supreme  stroke.  And  yet  for 
a  considerable  time  he  talked  of  the  subject  as  critical,  but 
without  committing  himself  by  a  pointed  avowal  in  its  favor 
or  a  pointed  repudiation  of  it.  He  thought  that  a  course 
which  put  at  stake  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  the  people  should 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  25 

appear  to  be  their  own  act,  and  that  he  ought  not  to  place 
upon  the  responsibility  of  his  eloquence  a  revolution  of  which 
the  people  might  be  wearied  after  the  present  stimulus  should 
cease  to  operate.  But  after  some  time  he  appeared  in  an  ele- 
ment for  which  he  was  born.  To  cut  the  knot  which  calm 
prudence  was  puzzled  to  untie  was  worthy  of  the  magnificence 
of  his  genius.  He  entered  into  no  subtlety  of  reasoning,  but 
was  aroused  by  the  now  apparent  spirit  of  the  people.  As  a 
pillar  of  fire,  which,  notwithstanding  the  darkness  of  the  pros- 
pect, would  conduct  to  the  promised  land,  he  inflamed,  and 
was  followed  by  the  convention.  His  eloquence  unlocked  the 
secret  springs  of  the  human  heart,  robbed  danger  of  all  its 
terror,  and  broke  the  keystone  in  the  arch  of  royal  power." 
Opposition  had  been  manifested  to  the  motion  in  the  Commit- 
tee of  the  Whole,  but,  overwhelmed  and  led  captive  by  the 
orator,  it  but  swelled  his  triumph. 

It  is  the  distinguished  honor  of  Virginia  that  by  her  resolu- 
tion of  May,  1765,  she  commenced,  and  by  her  resolutions  of 
May,  1776,  she  completed,  the  American  Revolution,  for  all 
that  remained  was  to  maintain  the  position  she  had  reached. 
She  has  not,  however,  been  so  fortunate  as  to  wear  her  honors 
unchallenged.  John  Adams  in  1818,  upon  the  appearance  of 
Wirt's  Life  of  Patrick  Henry,  denied  that  Henry's  resolu- 
tions of  May,  1765,  commenced  the  revolution,  and  claimed 
that  James  Otis,  in  resisting  writs  of  assistance  in  1761,  was 
entitled  to  that  honor.  The  venerable  patriot  had  permitted 
his  zeal  for  Massachusetts  to  mislead  him,  and  claimed  for 
another  what  he  had  yielded  to  Mr.  Henry  in  1776.  On  the 
3d  of  June  of  that  year  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Henry  these  words : 
"  I  know  of  none  so  competent  to  the  task  (of  framing  a  con- 
stitution for  Virginia)  as  the  author  of  the  first  Virginia  reso- 
lutions against  the  stamp  act,  who  will  have  the  glory  with 
posterity  of  beginning  and  concluding  this  great  revolution." 

The  honor  of  being  the  first  to  propose  independence  has 


26  T  H  E     N  A  T  I  0  N  A  L 

been  contested  by  North  Carolina,  which  claims  a  prior  decla- 
ration, but  this  claim  has  been  so  completely  overthrown  by 
my  learned  and  venerable  friend,  the  Hon.  Hugh  Blair 
Grigsby,  in  his  "  Discourse  on  the  Virginia  Convention  of 
1776,"  that  I  need  only  state  very  briefly  some  of  the  grounds 
for  disallowing  it.  It  is  claimed  that  the  Committee  of  Meek- 

O 

lenburg  County,  in  North  Carolina,  on  the  20th  of  May,  1775, 
unanimously  declared  that  county  "  sovereign,  free,  and  inde- 
pendent, and  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British 
Crown,"  and  adopted  laws,  and  appointed  officers  to  execute 
them.  It  is  not  pretended  that  this  proceeding  was  ever  pub- 
lished till  1819,  forty-four  years  afterwards,  when  a  copy  was 
said  to  be  found  in  the  handwriting  of  the  secretary  of  the  meet- 
ing, J.  McNitt  Alexander,  who  was  dead,  and  who  had  made 
a  memorandum  on  the  paper  stating  "that  it  might  not  be 
literally  correct,  though  fundamentally,  as  the  original  papers 
were  burned."  The  following  facts  are  undoubted  :  On  the  31st 
of  May,  1775,  at  the  same  place,  the  same  Committee  passed  a 
very  different  set  of  resolutions,  which  were  published  at  the 
time  in  several  newspapers,  and  denounced  by  the  governor  of 
the  State,  providing  for  a  temporary  government  of  the  county, 
and  for  officers  to  be  selected  in  a  different  way,  and  expressly 
limiting  the  operation  of  their  resolves  "  till  Great  Britain 
should  resign  its  unjust  and  arbitrary  pretensions  with  respect 
to  America,"  a  course  taken  in  nearly  every  Colony.  On  the 
23d  of  August,  1775,  the  Provincial  Congress  of  North  CarS- 
lina  subscribed  a  test,  required  of  .its  members  by  that  body, 
which  distinctly  professes  allegiance  to  the  British  crown ;  and 
Thomas  Polk,  John  Phifer,  and  J.  McNitt  Alexander,  the  dele- 
gates from  Mecklenburg  County,  and  members  of  its  county 
committee  present  on  the  20th  of  May  preceding,  signed  this 
test.  On  the  4th  of  September  the  same  body  voted  that  the 
plan  of  general  confederation  between  the  United  Colonies  was 
not  then  eligible,  and  "  that  the  present  association  ought  to  be 


CENTENNIAL     COMMEMORATION.  27 

further  relied  on  for  bringing  about  a  reconciliation  with  the 
parent  State."  And  on  the  8th  of  September,  the  same  body 
unanimously  adopted  an  address  to  the  inhabitants  of  Great 
Britain — of  course  voted  for  by  the  Mecklenburg  delegates 
whom  I  have  mentioned — in  which  it  is  said :  "  We  have  been 
told  that  independence  is  our  object;  that  we  seek  to  shake  off 
all  connection  with  the  parent  State.  Cruel  suggestion !  Do 
not  all  our  professions,  all  our  actions,  uniformly  contradict 
this?  We  again  declare,  and  invoke  that  Almighty  Being 
who  searches  the  recesses  of  the  human  heart,  and  knows  our 
most  secret  intentions,  that  it  is  our  most  earnest  wish  and 
prayer  to  be  restored,  with  the  other  United  Colonies,  to  the 
state  in  which  we  and  they  were  placed  before  the  year  1763." 

If,  then,  the  county  of  Mecklenburg,  North  Carolina,  through 
its  county  Committee,  made  a  declaration  of  final  separation 
and  independence  on  the  20th  of  May,  1775 — which  has  not 
been  proven  as  yet — it  appears  that  eleven  days  afterwards  the 
same  Committee  at  the  same  place  repudiated  it,  and  three  of 
its  members,  among  them  its  secretary,  on  whose  loose  memory 
it  is  now  sought  to  establish  it,  on  the  24th  of  August  and  the 
8th  of  September  following,  by  their  signatures  and  votes  in 
the  Provincial  Congress,  expressly  denied  that  they  had  ever 
intended  independence.  With  all  due  respect  to  our  North 
Carolina  cousins,  I  may  be  permitted  to  say,  that  such  a  decla- 
ration of  independence,  if  established,  is  nothing  to  boast  of. 
Before  the  cock  crew  twice,  they  had  denied  it  thrice. 

Equally  groundless  is  the  attempt  of  North  Carolina  to  sup- 
plement her  claim  by  quoting  the  instructions  to  her  delegates 
in  the  Continental  Congress,  passed  the  12th  of  April,  1776. 
These  instructions  merely  removed  her  previous  restrictions, 
and  empowered  the  North  Carolina  delegates  in  Congress  "  to 
concur  with  the  delegates  of  the  other  Colonies  in  declaring 
independence,"  but  leaving  the  matter  to  their  discretion — a 


28  THENATIONAL 

discretion  which  the  delegates  from  some  of  the  other  Colo- 
nies already  had. 
The  Virginia  Convention  entrusted  her  command  to  Thomas 

O 

Nelson,  one  of  her  delegates  to  Congress,  and  upon  his  arrival 
in  Philadelphia,  Richard  Henry  Lee  was  selected  to  make  the 
motion.  Nor  could  this  honor  have  been  more  worthily  be- 
stowed. Of  honored  ancestry,  large  fortune,  splendid  intel- 
lect, and  ample  learning,  from  the  time  he  offered  his  youth- 
ful sword  to  the  unfortunate  Braddock  he  had  been  conspic- 
uous for  his  public  spirit,  and  had  early  taken  rank  with 
the  foremost  of  the  American  patriots.  Tall  and  command- 
ing in  person,  with  the  noble  countenance  of  a  Roman,  the 
courage  of  a  Caesar,  and  the  eloquence  of  a  Cicero,  at  the 
bidding  of  Virginia,  he  arose  on  the  7th  day  of  June,  1776, 
and  in  her  name  urged  his  countrymen  no  longer  to  hesitate, 
but  pressing  forward,  to  cross  the  Rubicon,  and  secure  to 
themselves  and  to  their  posterity  those  inalienable  rights 
bestowed  upon  them  by  their  Creator.  He  moved,  in  the 
language  of  the  Virginia  Convention,  "  That  these  United 
Colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent 
States;  that  they  are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the 
British  Crown,  and  that  all  political  connection  between  them 
and  the  State  of  Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally 
dissolved ;  that  it  is  expedient  forthwith  to  take  the  most 
effectual  measures  for  forming  foreign  alliances ;  that  a  plan 
of  confederation  be  prepared  and  transmitted  to  the  respective 
Colonies  for  their  consideration  and  approbation.".  The  motion 
was  seconded  by  "  glorious  old  John  Adams,"  and  Massachu- 
setts stood  by  the  side  of  Virginia.  Her  ardent  and  eloquent 
son  proved  himself  the  colossus  of  the  debate  which  followed 
and  continued  through  several  days.  Nor  was  Pennsylvania 
content  to  be  represented  by  her  halting  Dickinson,  but  her 
ardent  patriotism  found  utterance  through  her  profound  phi- 
losopher and  statesman,  Benjamin  Franklin,  whose  words  of 


CENTENNIAL     COMMEMORATION.  29 

distilled  wisdom  fell  from  his  lips  like  proverbs  from  the  pen 
of  Solomon.  Of  the  eloquent  speech  with  which  Mr.  Lee 
introduced  the  resolution  of  independence  only  a  faint  outline 
has  been  preserved.  It  is  claimed  by  the  historian,  however, 
to  be  substantially  correct.  Of  this  I  will  only  detain  you 
with  an  extract :  "  The  question,"  said  he,  "  is  not  whether 
we  shall  acquire  an  increase  of  territorial  dominion,  or  wick- 
edly wrest  from  others  their  just  possessions,  but  whether  we 
shall  preserve  or  lose  forever  that  liberty  which  we  have 
inherited  from  our  ancestors,  which  we  have  pursued  across 
tempestuous  seas,  and  which  we  have  defended  in  this  land 
against  barbarous  men,  ferocious  beasts,  and  an  inclement  sky. 
And  if  so  many  and  distinguished  praises  have  always  been 
lavished  upon  the  generous  defenders  of  Greek  and  Roman 
liberty,  what  shall  be  said  of  us  who  defend  a  liberty  which 
is  founded,  not  on  the  capricious  will  of  an  unstable  multitude, 
but  upon  immutable  statutes  and  titulary  laws;  not  that 
which  was  the  exclusive  privilege  of  a  few  patricians,  but  that 
which  is  the  property  of  all ;  not  that  which  was  stained  by 
iniquitous  ostracisms,  or  the  horrible  decimation  of  armies, 
but  that  which  is  pure,  temperate,  and  gentle,  and  conformed 
to  the  civilization  of  the  age?  Animated  by  liberty,  the 
Greeks  repulsed  the  innumerable  army  of  Persians  ;  sustained 
by  the  love  of  independence  the  Swiss  and  the  Dutch  humbled 
the  power  of  Austria  by  memorable  defeats,  and  conquered  a 
rank  among  nations.  But  the  sun  of  America  also  shines 
upon  the  heads  of  the  brave ;  the  point  of  our  weapons  is  no 
less  formidable  than  theirs;  here  also  the  same  union  prevails, 
the  same  contempt  of  danger  and  of  death,  in  asserting  the 
cause  of  country.  Why  then  do  we  longer  delay?  Why  still 
deliberate?  Let  this  happy  day  give  birth  to  the  American 
Republic.  Let  her  arise,  not  to  devastate  and  conquer,  but  to 
re-establish  the  reign  of  peace  and  of  law.  The  eyes  of  Europe 
are  fixed  upon  us ;  she  demands  of  us  a  living  example  of 


30  THE     NATIONAL 

freedom  that  may  exhibit  a  contrast,  in  the  felicity  of  the 
citizen,  to  the  ever-increasing  tyranny  which  desolates  her 
polluted  shores.  She  invites  us  to  prepare  an  asylum,  where 
the  unhappy  may  find  solace  and  the  persecuted  repose.  She 
invites  us  to  cultivate  a  propitious  soil,  where  that  generous 
plant,  which  first  sprang  and  grew  in  England,  hut  is  now 
withered  hy  the  poisonous  blasts  of  Scottish  tyranny,  may 
revive  and  flourish,  sheltering  under  its  salubrious  and  inter- 
minable shade  all  the  unfortunate  of  the  human  race.  If  we 
are  not  this  day  wanting  in  our  duty  to  our  country,  the 
names  of  American  legislators  of  1776  will  be  placed  by  pos- 
terity at  the  side  of  those  of  Theseus,  of  Lycurgus,  of  Romulus, 
of  Numa,  of  the  three  Williams  of  Nassau,  and  of  all  those 
whose  memory  has  been  and  forever  will  be  dear  to  virtuous 
men!" 

But  it  is  not  for  me  to  trace  the  history  of  the  motion  to 
its  grand  consummation  on  the  4th  of  July,  nor  to  tell  of  the 
expenditure  of  blood  and  treasure,  freely  offered,  in  establish- 
ing it  before  all  the  world  against  the  most  powerful  nation 
of  the  earth.  Virginia  moved,  and  America  established  inde- 
pendence and  regulated  liberty.  Vitalized  and  directed  by 
the  heaven-born  principles  of  liberty  and  order,  our  develop- 
ment and  growth  have  surpassed  that  of  all  other  nations  of 
the  earth,  though  scarcely  out  of  our  infancy,  and  to-day  we 
give  undoubted  evidence  that  in  all  that  makes  a  nation  great 
we  rank  with  the  foremost. 

Fellow-citizens  of  these  United  States :  In  this  year  of  the 
celebration  of  the  birth  of  the  nation,  let  us  recur  to  the  funda- 
mental principles  underlying  and  supporting  our  institutions, 
and  to  which  we  owe  our  greatness.  Let  us  look  well  to  the 
title-deeds  of  our  liberties,  and  restore  the  ancient  landmarks 
where  they  have  been  removed.  Let  us  transmit  to  our  pos- 
terity in  its  integrity  the  rich  heritage  received  from  our 
fathers ;  and  may  the  God  of  our  fathers  Jbe  our  God,  and  pre- 


CENTENNIAL     COMMEMORATION.  31 

serve  our  civil  and  religious  liberties  to  us,  and  to  our  children, 
and  to  our  children's  children,  till  time  shall  be  no  more,  and 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness  shall  be  seen  purpling  the  east — 
pencilling  the  day-dawn  of  perfect  liberty  and  perfect  order. 

"  Yea,  Truth  and  Justice  then, 

Will  down  return  to  men, 
Orb'd  in  a  rainbow ;  and,  like  glories  wearing, 

Mercy  will  sit  between, 

Throned  in  celestial  sheen, 
With  radiant  feet  the  tissued  clouds  down  steering ; 

And  heaven  as  at  some  festival, 
Will  open  wide  the  gates  of  her  high  palace-hall." 


THE 


^Anniversary  of  July  zd, 


PROCEEDINGS 


AT  THE 


HALL  OF  INDEPENDENCE,  JULY  i,  1876. 


1776. 


JULY 


2. 


1876. 


ON  the  morning  of  Saturday,  July  1st,  there  assembled  at 
Independence  Hall,  in  the  room  occupied  by  the  National 
Museum,  those  persons  who  had  been  invited  to  contribute 
biographical  sketches  of  the  men  of  the  Revolutionary  period, 
where  they  were  received  by  the  ladies  of  the  Board  of  Man- 
agement, and  by  the  Committee  on  the  National  Centennial 
Commemoration. 

At  11.30  A.  M.  the  doors  of  Independence  Chamber  were 
thrown  open,  and  the  American  authors  and  antiquaries  of 
1876,  passed  into  the  shrine  of  liberty  as  a  chorus  of  fifty 
voices  rendered  Whittier's  great  Centennial  Hymn. 

The  Committee  on  the  Restoration  of  Independence  Hall, 
accompanied  by  the  Mayor  of  the  city,  who  occupied  seats  on 
either  side  of  the  President's  chair  and  table,  leaving  the 
former  significantly  vacant,  immediately  arose,  and  Colonel 
Frank  M.  Etting,  Chairman  of  the  Committees  on  the  Resto- 
ration of  Independence  Hall  and  of  the  National  Centennial 
Commemoration,  addressed  the  assemblage. 


ADDRESS  OF  COL.  ETTING. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : — 

On  behalf  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  as  well  as  of  the  Com- 
mittees on  Restoration  of  Independence  Hall,  and  of  the  Na- 
tional Centennial  Commemoration,  I  bid  you  welcome  to  this 
room.  As  the  result  of  four  years'  labor  we  seek  to  present 


36  THE    NATIONAL 

to  you  no  mere  spectacle  of  physical  sight,  but  to  afford  you 
the  means  of  a  spiritual  vision  that  will  enable  you  to  see 
through  a  century.  Yonder  parchment  brought  back  by  us, 
scarce  bears  trace  of  the  signatures,  the  execution  of  which 
made  fifty-six  names  imperishable.  This  table  is  no  longer 
surrounded,  in  the  fleshly  Hancock,  Franklin,  Jefferson,  Rich- 
ard  Henry  Lee,  the  Adamses,  and  the  host  of  patriots  who 
clustered  here  in  June  and  July,  1776.  These  chairs  that  once 
were  theirs  are  now  vacant.  Everything  that  was  perishable 
has  passed  away,  and  what  is  left  to  us  we  may  truly  say  has 
put  on  immortality.  The  "  rising  sun"  of  liberty  and  of  per- 
fect union,  which  Franklin  pointed  out  to  Jefferson  as  de- 
picted upon  the  back  of  this  very  chair,  when  occupied  by 
Washington  in  1787,  as  President  of  the  Convention  for 

O  ' 

framing  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  now  shines 
undimmed  by  the  shadow  of  any  subsequent  event,  since  we 
have  permitted  no  trace  of  any  memorial  to  remain  in  this 
chamber  that  can  recall  any  sectional  differences.  All  the 
associations  that  here  present  themselves  to  you  are  intended 
to  enable  each  individual  for  himself  to  exercise  the  miracu- 
lous touch,  to  once  more  "  set  upon  their  feet"  the  Founders 
of  the  Republic.  The  actual  lineaments  of  their  faces  are 
shown  upon  these  walls,  and  every  material  adjunct  in  the 
adoption  of  our  Magna  Charta  has  now  been  returned  to  its 
former  place  of  use.  You,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  have  done 
the  rest.  You  have  shown  us  in  prose  and  in  verse  how 
these  men  lived,  and  how  they  moved,  and  what  they  strug- 
gled for.  Thus,  in  the  whole  category  of  events  of  our  Cen- 
tennial epoch,  there  is  no  commemoration  of  greater  signifi- 
cance than  the  very  act  of  your  assembling  in  this  chamber. 
.  It  was  here  just  one  hundred  years  ago  to-day  that  the 
Founders  of  the  Republic  met  together,  predetermined  to 
call  into  being  a  new  power  upon  the  earth.  At  the  instance 
of  one  of  their  number  the  final  vote  was  put  off'  until  the 


CENTENNIAL  COMMEMORATION.          37 

morrow.  Thus  it  was  on  the  SECOND  of  July,  1776,  that  the 
final  act  was  done — the  United  States  became  a  Nation. 

You,  of  all  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  come  here  to- 
day to  build  up  a  CENOTAPH  of  letters  to  the  memory  of  those 
men  the  like  of  which  is  not  afforded  in  the  history  of  the 
world — no  rain,  no  sun  can  ever  reach  it,  and  it  must  endure 
as  long  as  Liberty  and  the  English  language  survive. 

If  it  be  permitted  to  departed  spirits  again  to  visit  the 
scenes  of  their  earthl}T  work,  may  we  not  invoke  the  shade 
of  Washington  again  to  occupy  the  President's  chair,  and  to 
summon  around  him  that  host  whose  memories  we  hold  so 
dear  ?  In  consonance  at  least  with  what  we  know  to  be  their 
wishes,  I  shall  now  request  the  Rev.  William  White  Brouson 
to  ask  the  blessing  of  God  upon  our  proceedings. 

PRAYER. 

0  God,  whose  name  is  excellent  in  all  the  earth,  and  Thy 
glory  above  the  heavens;  who  a  century  ago  didst  inspire  and 
direct  the  hearts  of  the  delegates  in  Congress  to  lay  the  per- 
petual foundations  of  peace,  liberty,  and  safety;  we  bless  and 
adore  Thy  Glorious  Majesty  for  this  Thy  loving  kindness  and 
providence.  And  do  Thou,  who  hast  instructed  us  in  Thy  holy 
word  to  render  honor  to  whom  it  is  due,  pour  down  Thy  bless- 
ing upon  these  Thy  servants,  here  assembled  to  perpetuate  the 
sacred  memory  of  the  Fathers  of  our  Republic.  May  this 
tribute  of  a  Nation's  gratitude  be  as  extended  and  as  abiding 
as  the  honored  names  which  it  is  designed  to  commemorate. 
May  the  inhabitants  of  this  land,  while  with  hearts  and  voices 
they  proclaim  the  praises  of  the  assertors  of  their  rights,  the 
defenders  of  their  liberties,  and  the  vindicators  of  their  laws, 
be  perpetuating  a  call  to  great  and  virtuous  achievements. 
And  may  all  who,  like  our  worthy  departed  of  blessed  memory, 
shall  be  eminent  benefactors  of  mankind,  like  them,  also,  find 


88  THE    NATIONAL 

a  grateful  people  honoring  them  in  their  lives  and  in  their 
deaths.  Having  inherited  the  lustre  of  their  names  and  enjoy- 
ing the  fruits  of  their  labors,  may  this  nation  witness  a  suc- 
cession of  great  and  good  men,  to  the  glory  of  Thy  name  and 
the  prosperity  of  Thy  people  to  the  end  of  time.  Grant,  O 
Lord,  we  beseech  Thee,  that  this  our  season  of  national  rejoic- 
ing may  be  so  ordered  by  the  sanctifying  power  of  Thy  Holy 
Spirit  that  we  forfeit  not  our  title  to  be  numbered  among  Thy 
faithful  people.  Control  the  words  of  all;  restrain  their  appe- 
tites; hallow  their  intercourse;  keep  far  away  the  occasions  of 
disagreements;  subdue  the  uprisings  of  angry  passions;  shed 
abroad  the  spirit  of  meekness  and  forbearance;  teach  all,  of 
every  class,  to  rejoice  one  with  another;  quicken  them  to  acts 
of  brotherly  love.  Grant  that  whatsoever  holy  suggestions 
they  may  any  of  them  receive,  they  may  carefully  cherish,  and 
fill  them  with  such  gladness  of  heart,  that  they,  realizing  in 
earthly  things  the  gifts  of  Thy  boundless  love,  may  be  encour- 
aged thereby  to  press  onward  to  the  enjoyments  of  Thyself, 
when  all  Thy  goodness  shall  be  revealed.  0,  Thou  Fountain 
of  Wisdom,  who  givest  to  all  men  liberally,  and  tipbraidest 
not,  grant  that  Thy  servants  here  assembled,  and  all  on  whom 
Thou  hast  bestowed  the  treasures  of  intellect,  may  be  led  unto 
right  apprehensions  of  all  things.  Endow  them  with  humility 
and  soberness  of  mind.  Bestow  upon  them  a  discerning  spirit, 
a  sound  judgment,  and  an  honest  and  good  heart,  sincerely 
disposed  to  employ  all  the  talents  thou  hast,  or  shall  entrust 
them  withal,  to  Thy  honor  and  glory  and  the  good  of  man- 
kind; that  ripening  the  precious  fruits  of  intellect  and  of  all 
goodness,  their  profiting  may  appear  unto  all  men,  and  that 
they  may  give  a  comfortable  account  of  their  time  and  of  their 
acquirements  to  Thee,  their  God,  when  as  stewards  we  shall 
be  summoned  to  our  final  reckoning.  Almighty  God,  Who 
hast,  in  all  ages  showed  forth  Thy  power  and  mercy  in  the 
wonderful  preservation  of  Thy  church,  and  in  the  protection 


CENTENNIAL     COMMEMORATION.  39 

of  every  people  professing  Thy  holy  and  eternal  truth  and 
putting  their  sure  trust  in  Thee,  we  yield  Thee  our  unfeigned 
thanks  and  praise  for  all  Thy  mercies  to  this  people,  and  more 
especially  for  that  signal  and  wonderful  manifestation  of  Thy 
providence,  which  we  now  commemorate,  wherefore  not  unto 
us,  0  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  Thy  name  be  ascribed  all 
honor  and  glory,  in  all  churches  of  the  saints,  from  generation 
to  generation,  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord,  Amen." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  prayer,  the  Mayor  of  the  city  re- 
quested the  Hon.  William  A.  Whitehead,  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary of  the  ^N"ew  Jersey  Historical  Society,  to  call  the  roll  of 
authors,  who  were  then  requested  to  deposit,  each  for  himself, 
as  his  name  was  called,  the  biographical  sketch  which  he  had 
prepared. 

ROLL  OF  AUTHORS. 

NAME.  SUBJECT. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  Massachusetts.  John  Hancock. 

Allen,  Ethan,  New  York.  Philip  Livingston. 

Arnory,  Thomas  C.,  Massachusetts.  John  Sullivan. 

Angell,  James  B.,  Rhode  Island.  James  Mitchell  Varnum. 

Balch,  Thomas,  Philadelphia.  William  Shippen. 

Bartlett,  John  Russell,  Rhode  Island.  Samuel  Ward. 

Bell,  Charles  H.,  New  Hampshire.  Nathaniel  Folsom. 

Bell,  John  J.,  New  Hampshire.  John  Taylor  Gilman. 

Bellows,  Henry  Whitney,  New  York.  Henry  Wisner. 

Biddle,  Craig,  Philadelphia.  Edward  Biddle. 

Bouton,  Nathaniel,  New  Hampshire.  George  Frost. 

Bradford,  A.  B.,  Pennsylvania.  George  Clymer. 
Bradley,  Joseph  P.,  District  of  Columbia.    William  Burnet. 

Braxtou,  Carter  M.,  Virginia.  Carter  Braxton. 

Brinton,  John  H.,  Philadelphia.  William  Smith. 

Brock,  R.  Alonzo,  Virginia.  Richard  Henry  Lee. 

Brown,  John,  Maryland.  Joshua  Seney. 

Browne,  William  Hand,  Maryland.  Robert  Alexander. 

Buffet,  E.  P.,  New  Jersey.  Abraham  Clark. 

Burdge,  Franklin,  New  York.  Simon  Boerum. 

Canning,  E.  C.,  New  York.  John  Lansing. 

Carpenter,  John  C.,  Maryland.  Richard  Ridgley. 

Chew,  Samuel,  Philadelphia.  Benjamin  Chew. 


40 


THE     NATIONAL 


NAME. 

Clairborne,  J.  F.  H..  Louisiana. 
Clemens,  Samuel  L.,  Connecticut. 
Cocke,  William  Archer,  Florida. 
Cooke,  John  Esten,  Virginia. 
Cox,  Christopher  C.,  District  of  Columbia. 
Cullum,  George  W.,  United  States  Army. 

Dalrymple,  E.  A.,  Maryland. 

Dana,  Jr.,  Richard  H.,  Massachusetts. 

Darlington,  William  M.,  Pennsylvania. 

Davis,  William  W.  H.,  Pennsylvania. 

De  Lancey,  Edward  F.,  New  York. 

De  Peyster,  Frederick,  New  York. 

Dix,  John  A.,  New  York. 

Drake,  Samuel  Adams,  Massachusetts. 

Duane,  William,  Philadelphia. 

Eastman,  Samuel  C.,  New  Hampshire. 
Egle,  William  H.,  Pennsylvania. 
Elmer,  Lucius  Q.  C.,  New  Jersey. 
Etting,  Frank  M.,  Philadelphia. 

Fairbanks,  George  R.,  Tennessee. 
Flanders,  Henry,  Philadelphia. 
Forrest,  Douglass,  Maryland. 
Forney,  John  W.,  Philadelphia. 
Frothingham,  Richard,  Massachusetts. 
Furness,  Horace  Howard,  Philadelphia. 
Futhey,  J.  Smith,  Pennsylvania. 

Gammell,  William,  Rhode  Island. 
Gayarre,  Charles,  Louisiana. 
Gilman,  Arthur,  New  Hampshire. 
Gratz,  Simon,  Philadelphia. 
Greene,  George  W.,  Rhode  Island. 
Grigsby,  Hugh  Blair,  Virginia. 

Hale,  Edward  Everett,  Massachusetts. 
Hammond,  Mrs.  L.  M.,  New  York. 
Hanson,  George  A.,  Maryland. 
Harrison,  Samuel  A.,  Maryland. 
Hart,  Mrs.  Armine  Nixon,  Philadelphia. 
Hart,  Charles  Henry,  Philadelphia. 
Hatfield,  Edwin  F.,  New  Jersey. 
Hedge,  J.  Dunham,  Rhode  Island. 
Henry,  William  Wirt,  Virginia. 
Higginson,  Thomas  W.,  Rhode  Island. 
Hillard,  George  S.,  Massachusetts. 
Hoadley,  Charles  J.,  Connecticut. 
Hoes,  R.  Randall,  New  Jersey. 


SUBJP;CT. 

Abraham  Baldwin. 
Francis  Lightfoot  Lee. 
William  Richardson  Davie. 
George  Wythe. 
Matthew  Tilghman. 
Richard  Montgomery. 

Thomas  Johnson,  Jr. 
Francis  Dana. 
John  Armstrong. 
George  Taylor. 
William  Allen. 
William  Floyd. 
John  Cruger. 
Arthur  Middleton. 
Joseph  Reed. 

Josiah  Bartlett. 
William  Maclay. 
Jonathan  Elmer. 
John  Dickinson. 

Edward  Telfair. 
Thomas  Fitzinimons. 
Daniel  Dulany. 
Thomas  Mifflin. 
James  Otis. 

Jonathan  Bayard  Smith. 
William  Clingan. 

Stephen  Hopkins. 
John  Rutledge. 
Nicholas  Gilman. 
Richard  Butler. 
Nathaniel  Greene. 
Peyton  Randolph. 

James  Lovell. 

James  Madison. 

Benjamin  Contee. 

William  Hindman. 

Robert  Morris. 

John  Nixon. 

Jonathan  Dickinson  Sergeant. 

Henry  Marchant. 

Patrick  Henry. 

William  Ellery. 

Christopher  Gadsden. 

Silas  Deane. 

John  Witherspoou. 


CENTENNIAL     COMMEMORATION. 


41 


NAME. 

Holland,  J.  G.,  New  York. 
Hopkinson,  Oliver,  Philadelphia. 
Hoyt,  Albert  H.,  Massachusetts. 
Humphreys,  A.  A.,  United  States  Army. 
Hunter,  Richard  Stockton,  Philadelphia. 

Jones,  Horatio  Gates,  Philadelphia. 
Jones,  William  Alfred,  Connecticut. 

Kingsley,  William  L.,  Connecticut. 


SUBJECT. 

George  Washington. 
Francis  Hopkinson. 
Samuel  Liverniore. 
Charles  Humphreys. 
Daniel  Roherdeau. 

Ebenezer  Kinnersley. 
Thomas  Stone. 

Samuel  Huntington. 


Lanman,  Charles,  District  of  Columbia.  William  Samuel  Johnson. 

Le  Vert,  Octayia  Walton,  Georgia.  George  Walton. 

Lincoln,  John  L.,  Rhode  Island.  John  Collins. 

Lindsley,  J.  Berrien,  Tennessee.  Lyman  Hall. 

Lippitt,  Mrs.  Mary  A.,  Rhode  Island.  William  Barton. 

Lodge,  Henry  Cabot,  Massachusetts.  Samuel  Holten." 

Lossing,  Benson  J.,  New  York.  Philip  Schuyler. 

Meredith,  Miss  Catharine  K.,  Philadelphia.  Gouverneur  Morris. 

Merrifield,  Joseph,  Maryland.  John  Carroll. 

Messier,  Abraham,  New  Jersey.  William  Patterson. 

Morris,  John  G.,  Maryland.  Robert  Goldsborough. 

McClellan,  W.  J.,  Maryland.  Jeremiah  Townley  Chase. 


Nevin,  J.  Williamson,  Pennsylvania. 
Nevin,  William  W.,  Philadelphia. 
Norris,  George  W.,  Philadelphia. 

Parker,  Joel,  New  Jersey. 
Penny  packer,  Samuel  W.,  Philadelphia. 
Phelps,  Miss  Eliz.  Stuart,  Massachusetts. 
Pinckney,  Charles  C.,  South  Carolina. 


Hugh  Williamson. 
William  Carmichael. 
Isaac  Norris. 

John  Hart. 
Samuel  J.  Atlee. 
Abigail  Adams. 
Thomas  Pinckney. 


Quincy,  Edmund,  Massachusetts.  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr. 

Quincy,  Miss  Eliza  Susan,  Massachusetts.   Josiah  Quincy,  Sr. 


Ramsay,  J.  G.  M.,  Tennessee. 
Robbins,  Chandler,  Massachusetts. 

Seidensticker,  O.,  Philadelphia. 
Silliman,  Benjamin,  Connecticut. 
Simmons,  George  A.,  Massachusetts. 
Smith,  John. .Jay,  Philadelphia. 
Steiner,  Lewis  H.,  Maryland. 
Stevens,  Francis  Putnam,  Maryland. 
Stevens,  John  Austin,  New  York. 
Stone,  Frederick  D.f  Philadelphia. 
Stone,  William  L.,  New  York. 
Strother,  David  Hunter,  Virginia. 
Stryker,  Mrs.  Helen  B.,  New  Jersey. 
Stryker,  William  S.,  New  Jersey. 
G 


William  Blouut. 
David  Ramsay. 

Frederick  Augustus  Muhlenberg. 

Joseph  Spencer. 

Samuel  Adams. 

James  Logan. 

Richard  Potts. 

John  Henry,  Jr. 

John  Alsop. 

Charles  Thomson. 

George  Clinton. 

Edmund  Pendleton. 

Elias  Boudinot. 

Nathaniel  Scudder. 


42  THENATIONAL 

NAME.  SUBJECT.     - 

Taylor,  Miss  Cornelia  F.,  Philadelphia.  Cyrus  Griffin. 

Thomas,  Douglass  H.,  Maryland.  John  Hanson. 

Thornton,  J.  Wingate,  Massachusetts.  Matthew  Thornton. 

Throckmorton,  B.  W.,  New  Jersey.  John  De  Hart. 

Toner,  J.  M.,  United  States -Army.  John  Morgan. 

Travelli,  Joseph  S.,  Pennsylvania.  Arthur  St.  Clair. 

Trumbull,  J.  Hammond,  Connecticut.  Eliphalet  Dyer. 

Tyler,  Samuel,  District  of  Columbia.  Luther  Martin. 

Wallace,  John  William,  Philadelphia.  Thomas  Willing. 

Westcott,  Thompson,  Philadelphia.  James  Smith. 

Wheeler,  John  H.,  North  Carolina.  Richard  Dobbs  Spaight. 

Whitehead,  William  A.,  New  Jersey.  Richard  Stockton. 

Winthrop,  Robert  C.,  Massachusetts.  Artemas  Ward. 

Wood,  George  J.,  Connecticut.  Oliver  Ellsworth. 

Woolsou,  Miss  Constance  F.,  Florida.  Henry  Middleton. 

As  the  name  of  Charles  Thomson  resounded  through  the 
Hall,  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  turned  to  the  Mayor 
and  officially  announced  the  restoration,  on  that  day,  "  to  the 
chamber,  of  the  last  piece  of  furniture  known  to  be  outstand- 
ing and  properly  authenticated — the  identical  desk  used  by 
Charles  Thomson  as  Secretary  of  Congress — which  has  been 
handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  in  the  family  of 
Francis  Hopkinson,  one  of  the  Signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  now  deposited  by  his  great-granddaughter, 
Mrs.  E.  A.  Foggo,  upon  the  specific  trust  and  condition  that 
Independence  Chamber  shall  remain  forever  in  the  same  state 
as  this  day  officially  reported — otherwise  to  be  returned  to 
the  family." 

The  Mayor  gracefully  accepted  the  table,  and  invited  the 
Congress  of  Authors,  at  the  conclusion  of  their  proceedings 
in  the  chamber,  to  follow  him  to  the  platform  erected  in  Inde- 
pendence Square,  in  order  that  the  general  public  might  par- 
ticipate in  the  ceremonial  of  the  day. 


CENTENNIAL  COMMEMORATION.          43 


THE  NATIONAL  CENTENNIAL  COMMEMORATION. 


ANNIVERSARY  OF  JULY  2,  1776. 

1  The  2d  day  of  July,  1776,  will  be  the  most  memorable  epocha  in  the  history  of  America.  I  am 
apt  to  believe  that  it  will  be  celebrated  by  succeeding  generations  as  the  great  anniversary 
festival  ;  it  ought  to  be  commemorated  as  tie  day  of  deliverance  by  solemn  acts  of  devotion 
to  God  Almighty." — Letter  of  JOHN  ADAMS  to  his  wife  on  3d  day  of  July,  1776. 


CEREMONIES  IN  INDEPENDENCE  SQUARE, 

July  i,  1876,  at  12.30  P.  M. 

Hon.  JOHN  WILLIAM  WALLACE,  President  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Penn- 
sylvania, will  preside. 

PROGRAMME. 

CENTENNIAL  TRIUMPHAL  MARCH  (HELFRICH)  ....        BAND. 

Introduction  of  the  Presiding  Officer  by  his  Honor,  WM.  S.  STOKLEY,  Mayor 

of  Philndelphia. 

ADDRESS  by  the  Presiding  Officer 

CENTENNIAL  HYMN.     Words  by  WHITTIER.     Music  by  PAINE.          .  .     CHORUS. 

ADDRESS  .  .  .  .  WILLIAM  V.  McKEAN,  Esq.,  of  Pennsylvania 

GOD  SAVE  AMERICA       ........        BAND. 

ADDRESS  .  .  .          Hon.  LEVERETT  SALTONSTALL,  of  Massachusetts. 

THE  VOICE  OF  THE  OLD  BELL.     Words  by  W.  BRADSHAW.     Music  by  Miss 

JULIA  S.  THOMPSON        .....  SOLO  AND  CHORUS. 

The  Solo  will  be  rendered  by  Mr.  GEO.  A.  COJSLT. 

ADDRESS  .  .  His  Excellency  HENRY  LIPPITT,  Governor  of  Rhode  Island. 

NATIONAL  AIRS.     HERMANN      . -  .  .  .  .  .        BAND. 

ADDRESS  ....     Hon.  FREDERICK  DEPEYSTER,  of  New  York. 

CENTENNIAL  ODE.     Words  by  S.  C.  UPHAM.     Music  by  ADAM  GEIBEL.         .     CHORUS. 
ADDRESS  .....      Hon.  L.  Q.  C.  LAMAR,  of  Mississippi. 

CENTENNIAL  HYMN      Words  by  WM.  FENIMORE.     Music  by  WM.  P.  FENI- 

MORE        .........     CHORUS. 

ADDRESS  .  .  Hon.  BENJAMIN  HARRIS  BREWSTER,  of  Pennsylvania. 

THE  STAR  SPANGLED  BANNER  .  *    .  By  GEO.  A.  CONLY  AND  CHORUS. 

BENEDICTION     .  .        Rev.  CHARLES  COTESWORTH  PINCKNEY,  of  South  Carolina. 

Hon.  JOHN  B.  GORDON,  of  Georgia,  Gen.  WINFIELD  S.  HANCOCK,  and  Hon. 

JOEL  PARKER,  of  New  Jersey,  it  is  expected,  will  also  address  the 

assemblage. 

The  Vocal  and  Instrumental  Music,  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  SIMON  GRATZ, 
by  the  Choral  Society  of  the  Centennial  Musical  Association;  Leader,  JEAN  Louis; 
and  the  Military  Band  of  the  same  Association ;  Leader,  THEO.  HERMANN,  Conductor, 
Prof.  JEAN  Louis. 

By  order  of  the 

COMMITTEE  ON  RESTORATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE  HALL, 

CHARLES  S.  KEYSER, 

Master  of  Ceremonies. 


44  THENATIONAL 

The  platform,  which  had  been  huilt  at  the  rear  of  the  Hall, 
was  occupied  by  over  five  thousand  people,  and  covered  the 
identical  ground  from  which  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  first  read  and  proclaimed  to  the  people,  by  John  Nixon, 
upon  the  8th  of  July,  1776. 

Delegations  were  present  from 

The  United  States  Centennial  Commission; 

The  Foreign  Commissioners  to  the  Exposition ; 

The  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania ; 

The  City  authorities  of  Philadelphia ; 

The  Clergy ; 

Members  of  Congress  and  Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy. 

At  exactly  thirty  minutes  past  twelve,  the  hour  appointed 
for  the  exercises  in  the  square,  while  the  band  played  the 
Centennial  Triumphal  March,  the  Hon.  John  William  Wal- 
lace, the  President  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania, 
escorted  by  Hon.  William  S.  Stokley,  Mayor,  appeared  upon 
the  stage. 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  MAYOR. 

On  arriving  at  the  speakers'  stand,  the  Mayor,  amid  the 
applause  of  the  multitude,  said  : — 

It  becomes  my  pleasure  to  introduce  to  you  Hon.  John 
"William  Wallace,  President  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Penn- 
sylvania, who  has  consented  to  preside  on  this  occasion. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  WALLACE. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  AND  HONORED  GUESTS 

FROM  MANY  LANDS  :  — 

We  assemble  this  morning  to  commemorate  one  of  the  great 
days  of  our  great  year  of  freedom  and  independence ;  a  day 
not  less  important  than  that  illustrious  Fourth  on  which 
we  seem  to  be  already  entering,  and  which  we  shall  soon 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  45 

celebrate  so  grandly.  Let  me  say  a  word  as  to  the  history 
of  this  2d  of  July,  and  why  we  celebrate  that  day.  The 
gentleman  whom  I  will  introduce  to  you  directly  will  speak, 
perhaps,  of  it  more  fully.  On  the  7th  of  June,  1776,  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia,  that  State  of  renowned  and  venerable 
name,  introduced  into  the  Congress  which  assembled  in  yonder 
chamber,  this  resolution : — 

"Jtesolved,  That  these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of  right 
ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  States;  that  they  are 
absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and  that 
all  political  connection  between  them  and  the  State  of  Great 
Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved." 

On  the  2d  of  July,  1776 — the  day  which  we  now  commemo- 
rate— after  our  fathers  had  consulted  much,  and  pondered 
much,  that  resolution  was  passed  ;  and,  so  far  as  anything  bu 
actual  and  successful  war  could  complete  it,  revolution  was 
accomplished,  and  the  British  Provinces  of  America  were  free 
and  independent  States.  We  can  understand,  therefore,  why 
John  Adams  wrote  as  he  did,  on  the  3d,  to  his  wife,  that  the 
2d  of  July  would  be  "  the  most  memorable  epocha  in  the  history 
of  America,"  and  that  it  would  "  be  celebrated  by  succeeding 
generations  as  the  great  anniversary  festival,  be  solemnized 
with  pomp  and  parade,  with  shows,  games,  sports,  guns,  bon- 
fires, and  illuminations,  from  one  end  of  the  Continent  to  the 
other,  from  this  time  forward  forevermore." 

Everything  relating  to  this  great  resolution  is  interesting  to 
all  Americans,  and  I  exhibit  to  you  a  fac-simile  of  it,  which 
Mr.  Etting,  at  page  94  of  his  valuable  book,  recently  published, 
entitled  "An  Historical  Account  of  the  Old  State  House  of 
Pennsylvania,  now  known  as  the  Hall  of  Independence,"  has 
given  to  us  from  the  original  itself,  in  Mr.  Lee's  handwriting. 

The  handwriting  is  as  bold  as  John  Hancock's. 

[Mr.  Wallace,  holding  up  Mr.  Etting's  work,  opened  at 
page  94,  here  exhibited  the  fac-simile.] 


46  THBNATIONAL 

This  resolution  of  the  2d,  as  I  have  said,  was  really  the 
act  which  made  us  independent  .of  Great  Britain.  But  Con- 
gress, in  those  days,  sat  with  closed  doors.  Its  sessions  were 
secret.  But  few  outside  knew  that  independence  had  been 
resolved  on,  and  therefore  the  Declaration,  both  of  the  act  of 
Independence,  and  of  the  causes  which  impelled  us  to  it — that 
paper  required  by  "  a  decent  respect  to  the  opinions  of  man- 
kind"— was  made  in  the  most  solemn  form,  and  published  to 
the  world. 

The  2d  and  the  4th  of  July  are,  therefore,  complements  of 
each  other.  The  2d  is,  in  truth,  the  beginning  and  the  cause 
of  the  4th.  The  4th  is  the  consummation  and  crown  of 
the  2d. 

Appreciating  in  this,  its  true  and  dignified  value,  the  day 
which  we  now  commemorate,  the  Committee  on  the  Restora- 
tion of  the  Hall — to  whom  we  have  been  so  greatly  indebted 
for  much  that  gives  effect  to  the  present  season — this  Commit- 
tee, I  say,  some  months  ago,  sent  letters  to  the  descendants  of 
the  men  of  1776,  to  the  historians  of  the  country,  her  poets,  her 
men  of  letters,  and  her  antiquaries,  summoning  them  to  meet  on 
this  day  in  that  venerable  Hall  on  which  you  are  looking,  and 
there  to  bring  for  preservation  in  that  vast  Museum,  formed 
by  the  efforts  of  that  same  Committee,  protected  by  the  same 
roof  which  protects  the  Hall  of  Independence — and  justly 
styled  National — an  authentic  biography  of  some  of  our  early 
patriots ;  thus  to  contribute  to  the  erection  of  an  imperishable 
monument  to  the  memory  of  those  whose  deeds  make  the 
glory  of  our  land. 

Responding  to  this  honorable  call,  these  distinguished  per- 
sons have  come  from  all  parts  of  this  wide  republic  as  to  a 
sanctuary,  and  in  the  presence  of  that  spiritual  band  whom 
mental  vision  ever  there  summons  up  with  the  distinctness 
of  reality,  they  are  now  depositing  in  yonder  hall,  upon  the 
table  of  John  Hancock,  as  upon  a  shrine,  these  solemn  docu- 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  47 

ments.  So  soon  as  they  have  performed  this  high  office,  they 
will  present  themselves  on  this  platform,  and  you  will  have 
the  pleasure  of  being  addressed  by  some  of  them. 

Whittier's  Centennial  Hymn  was  then  sung  by  the  chorus. 

At  the  close  of  the  music,  the  Congress  of  Authors,  who 
had  now  finished  their  literary  duties  in  the  Hall,  came  for- 
ward and  took  their  seats  in  a  distinguished  portion  of  the 
platform  that  had  been  prepared  for  them. 

Mr.  Wallace  then  said :  I  will  present  to  you,  as  the  first 
speaker,  a  gentleman  of  our  own  city  who  bears  a  patriot  name. 
He  is  known  more  widely  by  his  pen  than  by  his  voice,  and 
has  far  more  readers  than  acquaintances.  He  will  give  you 
an  accurate  historical  sketch  of  matters  relating  to  the  day. 
I  introduce  to  you  Mr.  William  Y.  McKean. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  McKEAN. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : — 

In  your  order  of  proceeding  it  is  allotted  to  me  to  speak 
of  the  events  of  July  1st  and  2d,  a  hundred  years  ago — events 
we  are  here  to-day  to  commemorate.  We  are  gathered  in  a 
place  illustrious  in  its  historic  memories — a  place  hallowed  as 
far  as  any  spot  can  be  hallowed  by  human  agency.  There  is 
no  other  place  in  our  country  so  intimately  associated  with 
the  events  that  made  and  preserved  us  a  nation. 

Here,  within  these  walls,  the  commission  which,  on  the 
17th  of  June,  1775,  placed  Washington  at  the  head  of  the 
American  army,  was  signed,  attested  and  delivered  into  his 
hands.  Here,  on  the  loth  of  May,  1776,  it  was  declared  by 
Congress  that  the  exercise  of  every  kind  of  authority  by  the 
government  of  Great  Britain  in  the  United  Colonies  "should 
be  totally  suppressed,"  and  that  all  the  powers  of  government 
should  be  "exercised  under  the  authority  of  the  people  of  the 


48  THENATIONAL 

Colonies."  Here,  on  the  2d  of  July,  1776,  was  adopted  the 
resolution  which,  on  that  day,  declared  the  United  Colonies 
to  be  free  and  independent  States.  Here,  two  days  later,  July 
4th,  was  adopted  the  immortal  "Declaration"  of  that  resolu- 
tion, and  of  the  reasons  for  the  separation  from  Great  Britain ; 
here  it  was  signed,  proclaimed,  and  sent  forth  on  its  beneficent 
mission  to  mankind.  Here,  later  on,  the  government  of  the 
Confederation  was  framed,  signed,  ratified  and  proclaimed — 
those  articles  of  confederation  and  perpetual  union  between 
the  States,  wrhich  kept  them  together  and  led  the  way  to  the 
Constitution ;  and  here,  in  1787,  was  framed,  signed  and 
ordained  that  noble  structure  of  government — the  written 
Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

Here,  too,  and  in  the  building  at  the  Sixth  Street  corner  of 
the  square,  for  the  greater  part  of  twenty  years  after  the  Con- 
federation was  proclaimed  and  the  Constitution  was  ordained, 
was  performed  the  labor  of  legislation  and  organization  which 
was  necessary  to  enable  the  young  nation  to  discharge  its 
duties,  and  to  get  the  new  government  into  working  order. 
All  these  memorable  and  momentous  things,  and  many  more 
in  the  history  of  the  United  States,  were  done  here.  You 
know  what  manner  of  men  they  were  who  performed  those 
admirable  works,  and  in  what  reverence  their  memories  are 
held. 

It  was  here  within  these  walls  that  the  merchants  and 
planters,  and  farmers  and  mechanics,  and  lawyers,  sent  into 
Congress  by  the  then  obscure  and  remote  American  Colonies, 
became  translated  into  statesmen  whose  political  ability  and 
wisdom,  whose  public  virtues,  and  whose  dignity  of  action 
challenged  the  attention  and  won  the  admiration  and  praise 
of  the  civilized  world.  Here  they  assembled — not  for  a 
casual  occasion  only,  or  for  a  few  days  or  weeks,  but  for  long 
months,  and  through  many  years— not  a  portion  of  them  only, 
but  all  of  that  resplendent  constellation  of  illustrious  men 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  49 

whose  names  illumine  the  early  history  of  political  and  civic 
events  in  the  United  States.  It  would  make  a  long  catalogue 
to  recite  them,  and  I  shall  not  attempt  it.  The  place  where " 
we  are  now  assembled  was  their  public  home.  Here  within 
these  walls  they  sat  and  consulted — here  within  these  grounds 
they  walked  and  pondered.  These  places  were  once  vocal 
with  their  voices — in  anxious  conference — in  undertoned  con- 
sultation and  persuasion — in  eloquent  debate.  If  echoes  were 
immortal  things  and  could  come  back  to  us  after  the  lapse  of 
a  hundred  years,  we  might  pause  in  reverence  to-day,  and 
harken  with  stilled  breath  for  the  reverberation  of  their  voices 
in  that  chamber,  and  of  their  footfalls  through,  that  corridor 
and  in  these  grounds  where  we  now  are. 

Then,  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  it  is  with 
reason,  as  well  as  from  the  impulses  of  patriotism,  that  we 
regard  this  place  not  only  as  the  historic  centre  of  our 
country,  but  as  hallowed  ground — hallowed  so  far  as  any 
earthly  place  can  become  so  through  the  deeds  of  men,  or  by 
the  work  of  human  hands. 

I  have  mentioned  briefly  some  of  the  memorable  and  con- 
trolling deeds  done  in  this  place.  That  which  is  the  imme- 
diate subject  of  commemoration  to-day  is  the  adoption  by 
Congress  of  Richard  Henry  Lee's  Virginia  Resolution,  on  the 
2d  of  July,  1776,  whereby  all  political  connection  between 
the  United  Colonies  and  the  government  of  Great  Britain 
was  then  totally  dissolved,  and  the  colonies  were  then  declared 
to  be  Free  and  Independent  States.  The  consideration  of 
that  decisive  Resolution  had  been  postponed  from  the  10th  of 
June  until  the  1st  of  July,  a  hundred  years  ago  to-day.  The 
patriots  who  were  in  favor  of  an  immediate  and  formal  de- 
claration of  the  separation  of  the  Colonies  from  any  further 
political  dependence  upon  the  mother  country,  looked  forward 
to  the  arrival  of  that  first  day  of  July  with  great  and  anxious 
solicitude — not  that  they  doubted  the  adoption  of  the  Resolu- 
7 


50 


tion  of  Independence  by  a  sufficient  majority  of  the  Colonies,  for 
that  had  been  assured,  but  because  of  their  earnest  desire  that 
the  decisive  act  should  go  to  the  world  as  the  unanimous  voice 
of  all  the  Colonies  represented  in  the  Congress.  During  the 
whole  of  the  interval  between  the  10th  of  June  and  the  first  of 
July,  Jefferson  and  John  Adams,  Chase  and  Rodney  and 
McKean,  and  Franklin  and  James  Smith,  and  Jonathan  D.  Ser- 
geant— and  others,  of  course,  but  these  particularly — had  been 
diligently  at  work  to  insure  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  Colonies. 
The  people  were  ready,  but  the  delegates  from  some  of  the 
Colonies  were  not.  These  delegates  were  not  less  patriotic 
than  their  more  advanced  and  decided  colleagues,  but  thev 

o  /  i/ 

were  slow  to  say  the  final  word  that  was  to  commit  the 
people  of  their  Colonies  to  the  irrevocable  Act  of  Separation 
— an  act  which  would  leave  them  no  middle  ground  to  stand 
upon — an  act  which  must  be  fought  out  to  victory  by  conflict 
of  arms  on  the  battle  field — for  failure  there  would  leave 
them  a  conquered  people,  stripped  of  all  their  rights  as 
political  communities. 

On  the  10th  of  June,  the  day  when  the  first  debate  on 
Richard  Henry  Lee's  Resolution  was  closed,  the  delegates 
who  made  up  the  majorities  in  the  representation  of  six  of 
the  Colonies  were  still  unprepared  to  vote  for  the  final  act  of 
separation.  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  and  Georgia  were 
ready  to  vote  for  independence,  so  were  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island  ;  but  the 
delegates  from  South  Carolina  were  not,  nor  were  those  from 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  Mary- 
land. This  led  to  the  postponement  until  the  1st  of  July — a 
postponement  agreed  to  by  the  more  resolute  advocates  of  in- 
dependence, in  the  full  expectation  that  the  interval  of  three 
weeks  would  enable  them  to  bring  about  entire  unanimity. 
But  so  determined  and  certain  were  the  leading  delegates  of 
the  Colonies  already  prepared,  that  they  resolved  that,  in 


CENTENNIAL     COMMEMORATION.  51 

order  that  no  time  should  he  lost  by  this  postponement,  com- 
mittees should  be  appointed  to  draft  a  Declaration,  setting 
forth  the  reasons  for  the  Resolution  of  Independence,  and  to 
prepare  a  form  of  Confederation  for  the  future  government  of 
the  Colonies.  They  and  those  who  were  like  minded  with 
them  had  no  doubt  as  to  the  final  issue  ;  but  they  kept  ear- 
nestly and  diligently  at  work.  Jonathan  D.  Sergeant  under- 
took the  duty  of  bringing  about  a  change  in  the  delegation 
from  N"ew  Jersey ;  Samuel  Chase  went  home  to  Maryland  to 
stimulate  the  convention  of  that  Colony  to  send  instructions 
for  independence  to  their  delegates  in  Congress ;  Caesar  Rodney 
went '  down  into  Sussex  County,  Delaware,  to  induce  a  more 
favorable  tone  in  public  sentiment  from  that  place ;  Thomas 
McKean,  together  with  Benjamin  Rush,  Jas.  Smith,  and  others, 
set  to  work  to  procure  a  popular  and  favorable  expression 
from  Pennsylvania.  Thus  the  way  was  prepared  for  what  it 
was  hoped  would  be  a  unanimous,  or  nearly  unanimous  vote 
on  the  first  of  July.  Public  sentiment  was  being  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  hesitating  members  from  four  out  of  the  six 
uncertain  Colonial  delegations.  The  New  York  delegates  re- 
mained passive,  neither  opposing  nor  helping,  as  they  deemed 
the  whole  subject  of  separation  outside  of  their  instructions  ; 
and  South  Carolina  was  too  distant  for  such  efforts  as  were 
put  into  motion  in  the  near  at  hand  Colonies  of  ~New  Jersey, 
Delaware,  Maryland,  and  Pennsylvania.  Still  her  delegation 
was  making  progress,  too. 

As  early  as  the  15th  of  June  Jonathan  D.  Sergeant  wrote 
to  John  Adams  that  the  new  Deleo-ates  about  to  be  elected  to 

O 

Congress  from  New  Jersey,  would  be  in  Philadelphia  by  the 
first  of  July,  and  they  would  "  vote  plump."  They,  in  fact, 
arrived  on  Friday,  June  28th,  three  of  the  new  Delegates 
being  Dr.  John  Witherspoon,  Richard  Stockton,  and  Francis 
Hopkinson.  Sergeant  was  entirely  right  about  their  senti- 
ments. ~Ne\v  Jersey's  voice  was  thus  added  to  that  of  the 


52  THENATIONAL 

others  in  favor  of  independence,  making  eight  out  of  the 
thirteen  Colonies. 

Samuel  Chase  had  a  more  time-consuming  task  in  Maryland. 
There  the  people  were  right  enough,  but  the  Convention  of 
the  Colony  was  difficult  to  move  in  the  desired  direction.  In 
order  to  counteract  that  spirit,  county  conventions  had  to  be 
called,  and  pressure  from  them  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
members  of  the  Provincial  Convention  sitting  at  Annapolis. 
They  were  instructed  by  the  people  to  withdraw  the  former 
instructions  to  the  Maryland  delegates  in  the  Congress  at 
Philadelphia,  and  to  authorize  and  empower  the  latter  to  con- 
cur with  the  other  United  Colonies,  or  a  majority  of  them,  in 
declaring  the  United  Colonies  free  and  independent  States. 
This  was  accomplished  by  the  28th  of  June,  and  on  that  day 
Chase  sent  an  express  from  Annapolis  to  John  Adams,  at 
Philadelphia,  advising  him  of  the  successful  result  of  his  mis- 
sion. Under  the  stimulus  of  the  popular  uprising  excited  in 
the  counties  by  Mr.  Chase,  the  Annapolis  Convention  cast  a 
unanimous  vote  in  favor  of  the  instructions  for  independence. 
The  instructions  were  received  and  read  in  Congress  on  the 
1st  of  July,  a  hundred  years  ago  to-day — possibly  at  this  very 
hour — and  thus  the  voice  of  Maryland  was  added  to  those  of 
the  other  Colonies  already  prepared,  making  nine  Colonies  out 
of  the  thirteen  in  favor  of  the  Independence  Resolution. 

The  votes  of  four  Colonies  were  still  undecided,  although 
that  of  Delaware  was  sure  if  Rodney  should  get  back  in  time. 
He  was  still  in  Sussex,  leaving  his  delegation  in  Congress 
evenly  divided — George  Read  being  against  the  resolution, 
whilst  McKean  was  in  favor  of  it.  In  the  mean  time,  and  as 
early  as  the  25th  of  June,  Rush,  and  Smith,  and  McKean  and 
others  had  procured  a  declaration  from-  a  popular  Provincial 
Conference  representing  the  people  of  the  counties  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, expressing  their  willingness  to  concur  in  a  vote  by  Con- 
gress declaring  independence,  and  this  was  read  in  Congress 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  '53 

Tuesday,  June  25th.  Even  this  did  not  decide  the  vote  of 
Pennsylvania,  for  all  but  three  of  her  delegates  still  remained 
of  the  contrary  opinion.  No  change  was  brought  about  in 
the  New  York  delegation,  and  none  that  was  decisive  in  that 
from  South  Carolina. 

This  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  the  momentous  First 
day  of  July,  1776,  arrived — the  day  to  which  the  further  con- 
sideration of  Richard  Henry  Lee's  Virginia  Resolution  had 
been  postponed.  Nine  colonies  were  sure  to  vote  for  it,  and 
ten,  if  Rodney  should  arrive  from  Delaware  before  the  vote 
was  called.  Pennsylvania  and  South  Carolina  were  still  ad- 
verse, and  New  York  declined  to  take  part,  as  the  whole 
subject  of  separation  and  independence  was  outside  of  their 
instructions.  Upon  meeting  that  First  of  July,  Congress  went 
into  Committee  of  the  Whole  House,  to  take  up  the  resolution. 
Dr.  Witherspoon  and  his  New  Jersey  colleagues,  being  new 
members,  desired  to  hear  the  arguments  pro  and  con — for  and 
against  a  declaration  of  independence.  The  reasons  were 
given  on  both  sides ;  but,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three 
members,  it  is  uncertain  who  spoke.  Richard  Henry  Lee,  the 
mover  of  the  Resolution,  was  absent  in  Virginia,  because  of 
sickness  in  his  family ;  Jefferson,  who  was  a  power  with  his 
pen  and  in  committee,  was  no  speaker  on  the  floor  of  the 
House ;  Chase  was  still  absent  in  Maryland,  and  Rodney  had 
not  yet  returned  from  Delaware.  It  is  known,  however,  that 
John  Dickinson  stated  the  case  of  the  opposition  to  the  Reso- 
lution, and  that  John  Adams  was  the  great  champion  of 
Independence  on  that  day.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  young 
Rutledge,  of  South  Carolina,  described  by  Patrick  Henry  as 
the  most  eloquent  speaker  in  Congress,  and  James  Wilson,  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  R.dR.  Livingston,  of  New  York,  supported 
Dickinson — and  that  George  Wythe,  of  Virginia,  and  Dr. 
Witherspoon  supported  the  argument  of  Adams.  But  all  ac- 
counts agree  that  John  Adams  was  "  the  pillar,"  the  "  colossus" 


54'  THE     NATION.AL 

of  the  party  of  Independence  on  the  floor  of  Congress  that 
day,  and  in  the  preceding  debate  in  June,  and  that  his  first  of 
July  speech  made  a  powerful  impression  by  its  vigorous  logic 
and  its  noble  eloquence.  What  a  privation  to  this  age  it  is 
that  we  have  no  authentic  contemporary  record  of  that  great 
debate,  so  pregnant  with  the  future  destiny  of  the  American 
people ! 

On  the  evening  of  July  first  John  Adams  wrote  to  Samuel 
Chase  that  the  debate  took  up  most  of  the  day.  Jefferson 
wrote  in  1787  that  the  debate  lasted  "nine  hours" — until  eve- 
ning— "without  refreshment  and  without  pause."  Then  the 
vote  was  taken  in  Committee  of  the  Whole.  Nine  Colonies- 
Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island, 
New  Jersey,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Georgia 
— voted  for  the  Resolution.  Two  Colonies  —  Pennsylvania 
and  South  Carolina — voted  against  it.  Delaware  was  evenly 
divided,  as  Rodney  was  still  absent,  and  New  York,  at  the 
request  of  her  delegation,  was  allowed  to  withdraw  from  the 
vote,  having  no  new  instructions. 

This  vote,  Mr.  Chairman,  you  will  remember,  was  taken  in 
Committee  of  the  Whole,"  and  had  yet  to  be  considered  in  the 
House.  The  committee  rose  and  reported  their  action  to  the 
House,  and  the  vote  was  about  to  be  taken  there,  when,  ac- 
cording to  the  plain  and  brief  phraseology  of  the  official 
record,  the  resolution  of  the  committee  was  read,  and  "the 
determination  thereof  was  at  the  request  of  a  colony  post- 
poned until  to-morrow." 

This  brings  us  to  the  second  day  of  July,  1776,  the  real  date 
of  the  birth  of  the  United  States  as  an  independent  nation. 
The  Colony,  at  whose  request  the  vote  had  been  postponed  the 
day  before,  was  South  Carolina.  The  suggestion  was  made  by 
Edward  Rutledge,  who,  according  to  Jefferson's  notes  made  at 
the  time,  said  that  "  he  believed  that  his  colleagues,  although 
they  disapproved  of  the  resolution,  might  then  join  in  it  for  the 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  55 

sake  of  unanimity."  When  the  vote  came  to  be  taken  on  the 
2d  of  July,  Pennsylvania  reversed  her  adverse  vote  of  the  day 
before.  That  came  about  through  two  of  the  opposition 
delegates  absenting  themselves,  leaving  three  in  favor  of  the 
resolution,  to  two  against  it.  Rodney  had  arrived  by  express 
sent  after  him  into  Delaware,  and  his  presence  enabled  Dela- 
ware to  cast  her  vote  for  the  resolution.  When  South  Carolina 
was  called,  she,  according  to  the  intimation  given  by  Rutledge, 
reversed  her  vote,  and  thus  made  the  vote  unanimous  with  the 
exception  of  that  of  New  York,  whose  delegates  still  stood 
aloof — not  voting,  because  they  had  no  instructions,  but  de- 
claring that  individually  they  were  in  favor  of  the  resolution. 
On  the  9th  of  July,  the  New  York  Convention  unanimously 
approved  the  resolution  and  the  declaration. 

The  official  record  of  these  proceedings  is  in  the  following 
words : — 

"  Tuesday,  July  2d,  1776.  The  Congress  resumed  the  con- 
sideration of  the  resolution  from  the  Committee  of  the  Whole, 
which  was  agreed  to,  as  follows : — 

"  Resolved ,  That  these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of  right 
ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  States ;  that  they  are  ab- 
solved from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and  that  all 
political  connection  between  them  and  the  State  of  Great 
Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved." 

From  the  hour  when  that  vote  was  taken,  and  that  record 
made,  the  United  States  of  America  "  assumed  among  the 
powers  of  the  earth  the  separate  and  equal  station  to  which 
the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitle  them."  It  is 
the  Centennial  anniversary  of  that  great  event — the  most 
momentous  event  in  the  political  history  of  mankind — that 
you  are  commemorating  by  your  presence  here  to-day. 

And  now,  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  indulge 
me  while  I  say  that  the  brief  and  somewhat  dry  narrative 
which  you  have  complimented,  by  giving  it  your  attention,  is 


56  THE    NATIONAL 

made  up  from  the  meagre  journals  of  the  Colonial  Congress, 
and  from  the  facts,  as  I  have  found  them  scattered  through  the 

*  O 

twenty  volumes  of  the  voluminous  writings  of  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son and  John  Adams.  With  but  two  or  three  unimportant 
exceptions,  I  have  used  none  but  the  writings  that  were  con- 
temporaneous with  the  events  described.  And  here  I  think  I 
may  do  a  public  service  by  correcting  a  very  general  error.  I 
have  seen  it  set  down  in  the  writings  of  men  possessing  some 
celebrity  as  authors,  that  Jefferson's  narrative  of  the  events  of 
the  second  and  fourth  days  of  July,  1776,  was  written  from 
memory  when  he  was  a  very  old  man.  This  is  a  mischievous 
error.  His  narrative  was  published  in  Paris,  in  August,  1787, 
whilst  he  was  Minister  to  France,  and  when  he  was  but  forty- 
three  years  of  age.  The  error  grew  out  of  the  hasty  reading 
of  a  celebrated  letter  of  Jefferson's  to  Samuel  A.  Wells,  dated 
May  12,  1819 ;  but  in  that  very  letter  he  declares,  with  solemn 
emphasis,  that  the  narrative  therein  contained  is  extracted 
from  his  original  notes,  made  in  his  place  in  Congress,  "while 
the  question  of  independence  was  under  consideration  before 
Congress,"  which  notes,  he  adds,  "I  have  now  before  me,"  and 
"  for  the  truth  of  which  I  pledge  myself  to  heaven  and  earth." 

He  is  a  bold  man  who  reads  that  testimony  and  then  under- 
takes to  say  that  Jefferson's  narrative  of  what  passed  in  Con- 
gress connected  with  Lee's  Resolution  and  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  was  written  from  memory,  when  his  memory 
was  enfeebled  by  age. 

I  am  thus  particular,  Mr.  Chairman,  because  the  history  of 
those  grand  and  momentous  events  has  been  falsified  by  many 
imaginative  pictures — by  fancy  and  by  fiction — to  a  degree 
that  has  almost  excluded  the  true  history  from  the  popular 
mind.  Some  of  these  fanciful  fictions  have  been  issued  in 
book  form  in  this  city,  within  this  Centennial  year. 

I  ask  your  pardon  for  this  short  departure  from  the  imme- 
diate theme  of  the  day,  and  will  now  conclude  my  share  in 


CENTENNIAL  COMMEMORATION.          57 

the  proceedings.  The  great  importance — the  decisive  and 
controlling  character  of  the  Resolution  of  Independence, 
adopted  on  the  Second  day  of  July,  1776,  have  been  obscured 
to  the  popular  vision  by.  the  fame  and  splendor  of  Jefferson's 
immortal  Declaration  of  the  reasons  for  the  adoption  of  that 
resolution.  Yet  Jefferson  himself  never  allowed  the  one  to 
overshadow  in  his  estimation  the  importance  of  the  other. 
The  Declaration,  in  his  mind,  was  intended  to  be  "an  appeal 
to  the  tribunal  of  the  world"  as  a  justification  of  what  had 
already  been  done.  It  was  intended,  he  says,  "  to  be  an  ex- 
pression of  the  American  mind,  and  to  give  that  expression 
the  proper  tone  and  spirit  called  for  by  the  occasion,"  "to 
place  before  mankind  the  common  sense  of  the  subject  in 
terms  so  plain  and  firm  as  to  command  their  assent."  Yet 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  has  dislodged  the  Resolution 
of  Independence  from  the  place  of  precedence  in  the  popular 
mind,  and  the  Fourth  of  July  has  displaced  the  Second  as  the 
nation's  holiday,  and  the  patriot's  high  festival ;  and  this  is 
easy  enough  to  understand  when  we  consider  the  circum- 
stances. The  Resolution  was  passed  in  private  session,  and 
remained  unknown  to  the  people  generally  until  it  and  the 
Declaration  were  publicly  proclaimed  together.  There  was 
nothing  in  the  phrasing  of  the  Resolution  to  cause  it  to  live 
in  the  popular  memory — whilst  there  was  everything  in  the 
Declaration  to  give  it  a  vital  hold  upon  the  affections  of  the 
American  people.  It  was  so  pre-eminently  "the  expression  of 
the  American  mind  of  that  day,"  that  people  of  every  degree 
adopted  it  as  their  own.  So  it  has  remained.  Its  terse,  forci- 
ble, and  unanswerable  arraignment  of  the  Government  of  the 
mother  country  for  the  suppression  of  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  the  American  colonists — its  clear  and  compact  statement 
of  the  basis  of  all  just  government — "the  consent  of  the 
governed" — and  its  grand  exposition  of  the  inherent  and 


58  THE     NATIONAL 

inalienable  rights  of  mankind — have  made  it  an  ever-living 
political  gospel. 

"  Independence  Day"  must,  therefore,  remain  inseparably 
connected  with  the  Fourth  of  July — the  day  of  the  "  Declara- 
tion," and  riot  the  day  of  the  Resolution.  Yet  John  Adams 
had  reason  for  writing  to  his  wife  on  the  3d  day  of- July,  1776, 
that  "yesterday  the  greatest  question  was  decided  which  ever 
was  debated  in  America,  and  a  greater,  perhaps,  never  was 
nor  will  be  decided  among  men.  That  will  live  as  truth 
among  all  Americans  who  know  and  value  the  history  of  their 
country."  His  prediction  that  that  day  would  be  celebrated 
by  succeeding  generations  as  the  great  anniversary  festival, 
"  the  most  memorable  epocha  in  the  history  of  America,"  has 
failed  in  the  precise  fulfilment — but  it  is  vicariously  fulfilled 
by  the  universal  celebration  of  the  Fourth.  But  his  prophetic 
vision  was  not  entirely  at  fault ;  and  his  prayer  had  not  gone 
without  answer.  On  the  morning  of  the  first  of  July,  1776, 
anticipating  Independence  in  that  day's  vote,  he  wrote  from 
Pennsylvania  to  Archibald  Bullock,  "  May  Heaven  prosper 
the  new-born  Republic,  and  make  it  more  glorious  than  any 
former  republics  have  been !"  And  on  the  third  he  wrote 
to  Mrs.  Adams,  after  the  adoption  of  the  Resolution  of  Inde- 
pendence, "  Through  all  the  gloom  I  can  see  the  rays  of 
ravishing  light  and  glory ;"  and  "  posterity  will  triumph  in 
this  day's  transactions." 

He,  with  Jefferson,  lived  until  the  4th  of  July,  1826,  and 
departing  this  life  together  on  that  day,  had  seen  a  full  half 
century  of  the  heaven-sent  prosperity  of  the  young  Republic; 
and  Adams  witnessed  the  gathering  of  that  light  and  glory 
whose  advancing  rays  he  had  foreseen  through  the  dark  gloom 
of  the  Revolution.  They  were  a  joy  to  his  patriotic  eyes ;  but 
what  raptures  would  he  have  experienced  if  he  could  have  had 
pre-vision  of  the  coming  glories  of  the  auspicious  days  of  this 
Centennial  year — the  pre-vision  of  a  nation  of  forty-four  mil- 


CENTENNIAL     COMMEMORATION.  59 

lions,  extending  from  ocean  to  ocean  across  the  Continent,  and 
across  twenty-three  degrees  of  latitude,  skilled  in  all  arts,  rival- 
ling the  Old  World  in  the  raising  and  making  of  all  articles 
of  need,  abounding  in  rich  resources,  the  wilderness  of  the 
west  transformed  into  an  inexhaustible  granary  for  the  neces- 
sities of  other  countries,  and  standing  the  acknowledged  equal, 
in  all  respects,  with  the  foremost  political  powers  of  the  earth — 
the  pre-vision  of  the  assembled  nations  here  in  this  hundredth 
year  of  American  Independence — all  of  them,  the  oldest  and 
the  youngest — the  most  populous  and  most  powerful,  with  the 
humblest  and  feeblest ;  the  empire  and  the  municipality  ;  the 
liberal  monarchy  and  the  limited  republic ;  the  democracy 
and  the  autocracy  ;  the  Christian,  Mohammedan,  and  Pagan ; 
Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  America,  the  islands  of  the  Sea,  and 
antipodal  Australia;  which,  in  1776,  was  an  unknown  quan- 
tity on  the  map  of  the  world — all  the  nations  assembled  in  the 
magnificent  industrial  palaces  erected  by  the  people  of  the 
American  Republic  ;  assembled  with  their  multitudinous  use- 
ful products  and  rich  treasures,  in  peaceful  emulation,  to  pro- 
mote the  progress  and  prosperity  of  mankind  in  the  interests 
of  universal  peace ;  assembled  in  commemoration  of  the  hun- 
dredth year  of  American  Independence,  with  their  choice  men 
of  learning  and  science,  and  art  and  skill,  to  manifest  the 
goodwill  and  high  estimation  they  hold  towards  the  great 
nation,  the  deep  foundations  of  which  he  and  his  compatriots 
laid  a  hundred  years  ago — if  some  new  apocalypse  could  have 
disclosed  all  this  to  his  yearning  eyes,  what  an  enrapturing 
revelation  would  that  have  been ! 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  I  do  not  often  give 
rein  to  exalted  speech  after  that  fashion,  but  exalting  influ- 
ences are  in  the  air  all  about  us  in  these  days.  We  do  well 
to  note  and  to  celebrate  the  memorable  epochs  and  the  momen- 
tous events  that  have  called  us  here  to-day,  and  to  keep  freshly 
before  us  the  example  of  the  great  and  good  and  wise  men, 


60  THE     NATIONAL 

without  whose  wisdom,  and  virtue,  and  patriotism,  no  such 
days  or  events  would  have  a  place  in  our  history.  This  is  a 
good  service,  but  we  can  do  a  better.  We  can,  if  we  will, 
keep  their  example  before  us,  and  try  to  follow  in  their  foot- 
steps every  day  in  the  year,  and  every  year  of  our  lives.  We 
can  endeavor  to  practise  their  public  virtue,  and  bring  our 
best  political  ability,  and  our  highest  standard  of  character,  to 
the  support  and  administration  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
government  which  they  founded,  in  order  to  form  a  more  per- 
fect Union,  to  establish  justice,  to  insure  domestic  tranquillity, 
to  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  to  secure  the  blessings  of 
liberty  for  themselves  and  their  posterity. 

"God  save  America"  was  then  played  by  the  band,  after 
which  Mr.  Wallace  came  forward  and  said : — 

The  name  of  Saltonstall  is  one  of  the  early  honored  names 
of  Massachusetts ;  and  its  honor  has  been  kept  in  perennial 
freshness  by  a  succession  of  descendants  who  have  added  new 
titles  of  respect  to  those  long  ago  acquired  by  the  ancient 
Governor  who  bore  it.  It  comes,  indeed,  to  this  very  day 
and  hour  with  distinction  in  the  person  of  one  whom  I  intro- 
duce to  you,  the  Hon.  Leverett  Saltonstall,  of  Massachusetts. 

REMARKS  OF  MR.  SALTONSTALL. 

As  I  stand  here  and  look  at  that  glorious  old  hall  and  call 
to  mind  the  fact  that  it  was  here  where,  one  hundred  years 
ago,  transpired  that  great,  one  might  say,  that  greatest  of  all 
events  of  history — the  passage  of  the  resolution  introduced 
by  Richard  Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia,  and  seconded  by  John 
Adams,  "  that  these  United  Colonies  are  and  of  right  ought 
to  he  free  and  independent  States  ;  that  they  are  absolved  from 
all  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and  that  all  political  con- 
nection between  them  and  the  State  of  Great  Britain  is,  and 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  61 

of  right  ought  to  he,  totally  dissolved" — when  I  think  of  the 
men  who  were  here  assembled — the  Adamses,  Gerry,  Paine, 
Hancock,  Hopkins,  Sherman,  Wolcott,  Livingston,  Morris, 
Hush,  Franklin,  Carroll,  Lee,  Jefferson,  Kutledge,  Middleton, 
and  others  whose  names  are  dear  to  every  American  heart — a 
hody  of  men  of  whom  Lord  Chatham  declared  "  that  in  all 
his  reading  and  observation — and  he  had  read  Thucydides  and 
had  studied  and  admired  the  master  States  of  the  world — that 
for  solidity  of  reasoning,  force  of  sagacity,  and  wisdom  of 
conclusion,  under  such  a  complication  of  circumstances,  no 
nation  or  body  of  men  can  stand  in  preference  to  the  gene- 
ral Congress  at  Philadelphia;" — and  when  I  think  that  that 
resolution  not  only  made  of  those  feeble  colonies  a  great 
republic,  but  has  brought  life  and  hope  to  all  the  civilized 
world,  I  feel  greatly  honored  in  being  asked  to  speak  in  this 
presence  for  the  ancient  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  and 
no  less  embarrassed  to  find  words  to  express  my  thoughts 
upon  this  glorious  theme.  Nor  should  I  have  had  this  honor 
had  it  not  been  that  that  eminent  patriot  and  scholar,  the 
Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  of  Boston,  whose  ancestor  crossed 
the  ocean  in  the  same  ship  with  my  own,  two  hundred  and 
forty-six  years  ago,  was  prevented  from  being  here  to-day. 
And  Massachusetts,  surely  all  will  agree,  is  the  last  State 
which  should  be  absent  on  this  great  day,  from  this  most 
imposing  occasion.  It  may  well  be  said  that  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  was  the  glorious  fruit  of  that  tree  whose 
germ  was  nurtured  in  the  cabin  of  the  May-Flower,  one 
hundred  and  fifty-six  years  before. 

During  that  whole  century  and  a  half  there  was  seldom  a 
period  when  a  conflict  did  not  exist  between  the  colonists  and 
the  crown ;  and,  thanks  to  God,  there  were  always  to  be  found 
in  Massachusetts  stalwart  supporters  of  the  rights  and  liber- 
ties of  the  people.  They  never  swerved  nor  flinched,  but 
were  true  sires  of  the  men  who  were  to  act  their  part  in  the 


62 

greater  struggle;  so  that  when  the  time  came  which  sum- 
moned the  colonists  to  meet  their  oppressors  in  arms,  the  ter- 
rible necessity  came  to  a  people  who  had  undoubtedly  foreseen 
the  dire  event. 

To  no  man  does  the  title  of  "  Pioneer  of  the  Revolution" 
more  truly  belong  than  to  Samuel  Adams.  "  The  last  of  the 
Puritans,"  as  he  has  been  styled,  he  certainly  united  in  his 
character  all  the  best  traits  of  his  Puritan  ancestry.  From 
the  day  he  left  college,  when  he  took  for  the  theme  of  his 
disquisition  "  Whether  it  be  lawful  to  resist  the  supreme 
magistrate,  if  the  commonwealth  cannot  otherwise  be  pre- 
served," to  the  day  of  his  death,  this  brave,  far-seeing  man 
walked  majestically  on,  caring  never  for  himself,  but  only  for 
the  liberties  of  his  country.  Gov.  Hutchinson  said  of  him, 
"  such  is  the  obstinacy  and  inflexible  disposition  of  the  man, 
he  never  can  be  conciliated  by  any  office  or  gift  whatever." 
"  His  feet  were  ever  in  the  stirrups,  his  lance  was  ever  in  its 
rest,"  says  Jefferson. 

It  is  related  of  him  that,  on  the  morning  of  the  battle  of 
Lexington,  as  he  was  retreating  before  the  British  troops,  he 
remarked  to  a  friend,  "  This  is  a  fine  day  ;  I  mean,  a  glorious 
day  for  America."  The  man  who  first  saw  that  the  great 
question  must  result  in  an  appeal  to  arms — the  man  who  first 
tried  to  prepare  his  fellow-citizens  to  meet  the  great  issue — 
Massachusetts  does  well  at  this  hour  to  send  his  marble  statue 
to  the  capital  of  the  nation,  which  owes  its  existence  in  a 
great  degree  to  the  sagacity,  the  firmness,  and  the  courage  of 
this,  her  noble  son. 

Nor  can  I  forbear  to  speak,  also,  of  his  great  kinsman  and 
coadjutor,  John  Adams — their  names  are  so  intimately  asso- 
ciated in  a  common  glory  that  to  speak  in  praise  of  the  one  is 
to  eulogize  the  other — the  man  whom  Jefferson  styled  the 
"Colossus  of  (hat  Congress;"  whom  Richard  Stockton  declared 
to  be  the  "Atlas  of  Independence;"  who,  possessing  the  great 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  63 

gift  of  impassioned  eloquence,  knew  how  to  keep  silent  when, 
in  ignorance  of  the  true  condition  of  affairs  in  Massachusetts, 
other  colonies  were  not  prepared  for  the  question  of  independ- 
ence; but  always  ready  to  speak  when  occasion  required,  so 
thoroughly  acquainted  was  he  with  every  question  which 
came  before  Congress,  and  so  admirably  trained  were  his  facul- 
ties in  debate,  possessing  "a  power  of  thought  and  expression 
which,"  according  to  Jefferson,  "moved  the  members  from 
their  seats."  The  devoted  husband  of  an  admirable  wife,  the 
fond  father,  loving  his-  home,  but  placing  before  all  things  else 
his  country,  devoting  his  life  to  her  cause,  he  was  spared  to 
see  his  prophetic  vision  fulfilled  when,  on  the  2d.  of  July,  one 
hundred  years  ago,  he  exclaimed:  "yet  through  all  the  gloom 
I  can  see  the  rays  of  ravishing  light  and  glory.  I  can  see  that 
the  end  is  worth  more  than  all  the  means,  and  that  posterity 
will  triumph  in  this  day's  transactions,  even  although  we 
should  rue  it,  which  I  trust  in  God  we  shall  not." 

How  touching  is  it  to  think  of  the  devotion  of  these  men, 
the  two  Adamses,  leaving  their  native  State,  her  ports  closed, 
the  doors  of  her  courts  barred,  her  industries  dead,  her  people 
in  a  state  of  starvation,  her  capital  occupied  by  the  army  of 
the  enemy;  parting  from  loving  wives  and  children  without 
any  cheering  assurance  of  meeting  them  again  ;  turning  their 
horses'  heads  for  Philadelphia,  here  to  meet  the  leading  spirits 
of  sister  colonies,  of  whose  names  they  may  have  heard,  but 
of  whose  views,  wishes,  and  purposes,  they  had  but  a  most 
imperfect  knowledge.  So  far  at  least  as  any  positive  aggres- 
sions of  the  mother  country  were  concerned,  Massachusetts 
perhaps,  stood  alone ;  but  her  delegates,  of  whatever  else  they 
may  have  doubted,  were  sure  of  the  ready  sympathy  and  the 
hearty  good-will  of  those  patriotic  men  whom  the  same  call 
had  summoned  to  this  ancient  revolutionary  city. 

It  took  more  than  a  fortnight  in  those  days  to  travel  from 
Boston  to  Philadelphia.  The  journey  lay  through  a  scarcely 


64  THE    NATIONAL 

settled  country,  occupied,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  towns, 
distant  from  each  other,  by  simple  yeomen,  who  must  have 
gazed  with  wonder,  if  not  suspicion,  upon  the  strangers,  com- 
ing from  so  remote  a  place  as  Boston.  And  now  the  trip  can 
be  made  between  the  sunrise  and  sunset  of  a  summer  daj% 
traversing  a  country  beautifully  cultivated,  through  great 
cities,  huge  factories  of  every  kind  greeting  the  eye  of  the 
traveller,  and  the  hum  of  varied  industry  filling  his  ear. 
Great  steamships  lie  at  anchor  in  the  harbors,  and  the  yellow 
harvest  falls  before  the  march  of  the  reaping  machine.  The 
electric  wires,  thanks  to  Boston's  son  but  Philadelphia's  pa- 
triot sage,  are  transmitting  intelligence  quicker  than  the 
lightning's  flash  from  one  side  of  the  continent  to  the  other, 
and  even  under  the  ocean  to  continents  beyond. 

Truly  said  John  Adams,  "  the  day  will  be  celebrated  by 
succeeding  generations  as  the  great  anniversary  festival.  It 
ought  to  be  commemorated  as  the  day  of  deliverance,  by 
solemn  acts  of  devotion  to  God  Almighty.  It  ought  to  be 
solemnized  with  pomp  and  parade,  with  show's,  games,  sports, 
guns,  bells,  bonfires,  and  illuminations,  from  one  end  of  this 
continent  to  the  other,  from  this  time  forward,  forevermore." 

But  let  me  not  close  without  saying,  what  I  can  as  a  son  of 
Massachusetts  say  from  rny  heart,  that  as  one  hundred  years 
ago  Pennsylvania  received  the  delegates  from  the  other  Colo- 
nies, and  though  at  the  outset  not  herself  prepared  to  join 
Massachusetts  and  Virginia  in  their  extreme  measures,  yet 
yielded  them  her  cordial  sympathy,  and  exposed  herself,  as 
the  gathering-place  of  the  Rebel  Congress,  to  the  severe  retal- 
iatory measures  of  Great  Britain,  becoming  in  the  end,  as  she 
has  since  continued  to  be,  one  of  the  most  generous  and  de- 
voted of  the  sisterhood  of  States ;  so  now  has  Pennsylvania, 
and  especially  this  good  city  of  Philadelphia,  almost  alone 
and  under  every  form  of  discouragement,  carried  out  this 
magnificent  project  of  a  great  centennial  celebration  ;  and  all 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  65 

the  nations  of  the  earth  have  been  invited  and  have  come 
hither,  bringing  with  them  their  superb  treasures  of  art  and 
industry,  to  take  part  with  us  in  the  national  celebration  of 
our  natal  day.  !N\}t  alone  the  nations  of  Europe  and  South 
America,  but  from  the  far  East — China  with  her  four  hundred 
millions  of  people ;  the  Islands  of  Japan,  so  recently  opened 
to  the  world  by  peaceful  influences,  under  our  own  brave 
Perry ;  Egypt,  with  her  forty  centuries  of  history  coming  to 
exchange  greetings  with  this  young  nation ;  but  most  touch- 
ing of  all,  Great  Britain,  from  whose  loins  we  sprung,  with 
her  colonies,  many  of  which,  one  hundred  years  ago,  were 
unknown  to  civilized  man,  laying  aside  old  prejudices,  has 
brought  hither  and  displayed  to  the  world  the  rich  products 
of  her  looms,  her  workshops,  and  ateliers  with  a  lavishness 
that  calls  for  our  warmest  admiration,  and  seems  to  bid  us 
take  notice  that  she  too  has  been  busy  these  last  hundred 
years. 

I  say,  then,  that  Pennsylvania  has  well  earned  her  title  of 
Keystone  to  this  mighty  arch  of  the  Union  by  her  record  of 
the  past,  and  not  less  by  her  boldness  and  perseverance  in  con- 
ceiving and  carrying  out  the  plan  of  this  great  International 
Exhibition. 

May  our  people  profit,  as  they  ought,  by  this  great  educator 
— may  they  come  from  the  very  extremities  of  the  Republic, 
and  meet  here  to  rejoice  together  with  grateful  hearts,  and  to 
revive  in  each  other's  breasts  the  memories  of  ancestral  vir- 
tues, so  that  in  the  next  century  we  may  show  the  nations  of 
the  world  the  best  results  of  Republican  institutions,  as  in 
the  last  we  have  held  up  to  them  the  beacon-light  of  freedom. 

A  new  Centennial  ode,  entitled  "  The  Voice  of  the  Old 
Bell,"  was  then  sung.  The  music  is  by  Mr.  W.  Bradshaw, 
and  the  words  by  Miss  Julia  S.  Thompson.  The  solo  parts 
were  sung  by  the  well-known  basso,  Mr.  George  A.  Conly. 

9 


66  THE     NATIONAL 

The  piece  was  encored,  and  Mr.  Conly  sang  his  part  again. 
At  its  conclusion  Mr.  Wallace  rose  and  said:  — 

You  will  now  hear  from  the  State  of  Rhode  Island ;  but 
before  you  so  hear,  may  I  not  apostrophize  her  in  the  lan- 
guage of  one  of  her  own  bards,  writing  in  times  when  lawless 
violence  sought  to  subvert  her  old  and  honored  government — 

"  Oh  gallant  land  of  bosoms  true, 

Still  bear  that  stainless  shield  ; 
That  ANCHOR  clung  the  tempest  through, 
That  HOPE  untaught  to  yield." 

The  name  of  Lippitt  comes  to  us  with  honor  from  the  war 
of  the  Revolution.  Col.  Christopher  Lippitt  fought  at  White 
Plains,  at  Trenton,  and  at  Princeton,  and  in  all  fought  with 
bravery  and  skill.  His  grandson,  the  present  wise  and  re- 
spected Governor  of  Rhode  Island,  will  now  speak  to  you.  I 
introduce  the  Hon.  Henry  Lippitt,  of  Rhode  Island. 

REMARKS  OP  GOVERNOR  LIPPITT. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

Finding  myself  on  the  list  of  speakers  for  to-day,  the  only 
Governor  of  a  State  who  will  address  you,  I  feel  that  it  is  pro- 
per to  say  something  of  the  revolutionary  career  of  the  little 
State  I  have  the  honor  to  represent.  Rhode  Island  is  so  small, 
that  her  sons  must  speak  when  opportunity  is  offered  them, 
or  she  may  be  forgotten. 

The  distinguished  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  who  has 
just  preceded  me,  has  carried  us  back  to  Plymouth  Rock,  and 
referred,  in  glowing  terms,  to  the  sentiments  of  the  compact 
ou  the  Mayflower.  I  trust,  s'ir,  that  I  may  therefore  be 
allowed  to  call  your  attention  to  that  glorious  announcement 
made  two  hundred  and  forty  years  ago  by  our  great  founder, 
Roger  Williams,  when  he  proclaimed  to  all  the  world  that  he 
had  established  a  State  on  the  then  unheard-of  principle,  that 


CENTENNIAL  COMMEMORATION.          67 

"  Here  is  an  asylum  where  every  one  has  the  right  to  worship 
God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience."  This 
great  principle  antedates  and  underlies  all  political  liberty ;  it 
is  now  recognized  as  the  foundation  of  all  our  State  Constitu- 
tions, and  without  its  practical  application,  we  could  enjoy  no 
real  political  freedom. 

I  claim,  sir,  for  my  little  State,  that  her  sons  shed  the  first 
blood  of  the  Revolution.  On  the  night  of  the  9th  of  June, 
1772,  four  years  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  about 
forty  stalwart  men  gathered  together  in  the  streets  of  Provi- 
dence, organized  themselves,  went  down  ^Tarragansett  Bay, 
attacked  His  Britannic  Majesty's  Sloop  of  "War  "  Gaspee," 
wounded  the  commander,  captured  the  vessel,  and  destroyed 
her  before  morning.  This  daring  and  successful  act  was  un- 
dertaken by  these  men,  with  the  full  knowledge  that,  if  they 
escaped  the  bullets  of  the  enemy  in  front,  they  were  liable  to 
be  hung  for  their  disloyalty ;  but  such  was  the  universal  sen- 
timent of  the  community  in  their  favor,  that  no  evidence  could 
be  found  to  convict  them.  Our  State  was  the  first  to  move 
officially  in  favor  of  the  creation  of  an  American  navy,  and 
furnished  the  first  American  admiral,  in  the  person  of  Esek 
Hopkins,  who  was  regularly  appointed  by  Congress  to  that 
high  office.  In  June,  1775,  one  year  before  the  Declaration, 
the  Legislature  of  Rhode  Island  fitted  out  two  armed  vessels, 
and  placed  them  under  the  command  of  Abraham  Whipple, 
with  the  title  of  Commodore.  Whipple  was  one  of  the  origi- 
nators and  leaders  of  the  Gaspee  expedition,  and  a  man  of 
great  energy  and  determined  bravery.  On  his  way  to  sea  he 
fired  the  first  regular  broadside  into  the  British  fleet,  lying  off 
the  harbor  of  Newport,  that  was  discharged  by  an  American 
naval  vessel  against  the  English  navy. 

There  is  one  exploit  of  this  man,  which  is  so  characteristic, 
that  I  trust  I  may  be  pardoned  for  mentioning  it  here.  Dur- 
ing one  of  his  voyages,  he  encountered  the  homeward  bound 


68  THE    NATIONAL 

Jamaica  fleet,  consisting  of  nearly  150  sail,  and  convoyed  by 
several  ships  of  war.  He  concealed  his  guns,  hoisted  British 
colors,  and  joined  the  fleet,  sailing  in  their  company  several 
days.  After  nightfall  each  day  he  cautiously  captured  one  of 
the  vessels,  manned  her  from  his  own  crew,  and  despatched 
her  homeward,  so  as  to  he  out  of  sight  before  morning.  In 
this  way  he  captured  ten  richly  laden  vessels,  eight  of  which 
arrived  safely  in  American  ports.  A  gallant  exploit,  worthy 
of  emulation  by  our  brave  tars  of  the  present  day. 

But,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  will  not  further  weary  you  with  these 
details ;  before  closing,  I  wish  to  thank  the  men  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, of  Philadelphia,  for  what  they  have  done  for  this  great 
Centennial  Exhibition.  It  is  in  consequence  of  your  liberality 
and  untiring  efforts  that  the  Exhibition  has  been  held.  Those 
who  live  outside  of  your  State  feel  this  immense  debt  of  grati- 
tude more  than  you  appreciate.  All  honor,  then,  to  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania,  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  for  their  glorious 
work,  crowned  with  success. 

My  own  State  has  done  what  she  could  to  promote  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Exhibition.  She  has  sent  you  many  specimens  of 
the  product  of  her  industry ;  but,  above  all,  she  has  produced 
that  monster  engine  which  forms  such  a  conspicuous  object  in 
the  centre  of  Machinery  Hall,  where  it  stands  as  a  monument 
of  its  own  magnificent  proportions.  With  the  power  of  more 
than  an  army  with  banners,  it  takes  charge  of  the  exhibit  of 
the  mechanical  industry  of  the  country,  and  sets  the  myriad 
wheels  in  motion  contained  in  a  space  of  more  than  fifteen 
acres. 

In  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  Rhode  Island,  I  wish  to  thank 
the  authorities  and  citizens  of  Philadelphia  for  what  you  have 
done  towards  the  restoration  of  Independence  Hall.  This  edi- 
fice belongs  not  to  you  alone,  but  to  the  citizens  of  our  whole 
country.  I  charge  you  to  take  care  of  it ;  let  no  Vandal  hands, 
under  the  plea  of  improvement,  alter  or  destroy  its  fair  pro- 


CENTENNIAL  COMMEMORATION.          69 

portions.  Let  it  be  forever  preserved  as  we  find  it  to-day. 
Every  year  that  we  go  away  from  this  anniversary,  it  will 
become  more  and  more  sacred  to  our  children ;  they  will  come 
up  here  from  all  parts  of  our  common  country,  draw  new  inspi- 
rations of  patriotism  from  its  walls,  and  bless  God  that  we  have 
such  a  country. 

A  number  of  national  airs  were  then  played  by  the  band, 
and  were  loudly  cheered. 

Mr.  Wallace  then  rose  and  said: — 

Among  our  highest  pleasures  to-day  is  the  presence  of  the 
Hon.  Frederick  De  Peyster,  of  New  York,  and  President  of 
the  Historical  Society  of  that  State ;  a  worthy  representative 
of  that  early  citizen  of  New  Amsterdam,  Johannes  De  Peyster, 
distinguished  for  his  integrity  in  many  offices  of  trust  under 
both  Dutch  and  English  Colonial  rule,  and  with  whose  name 
you  are  acquainted.  No  worthier  representative,  no  repre- 
sentative more  welcome,  could  the  Historical  Society  of  New 
York  send  to  us  this  day.  I  introduce  to  you  with  peculiar 
pleasure  the  Hon.  Frederick  De  Peyster,  of  New  York. 

REMARKS  OF  MR.  DE  PEYSTER. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

The  event  we  are  here  assembled  on  this  memorable  spot  to 
celebrate,  is  one  that  announces  to  the  world  the  stability  of 
the  American  Republic,  tested  by  the  century  which  to-mor- 
row ushers  in  its  successors.  Where,  in  the  vast  past,  is  its 
exemplar?  Its  bounds  are  the  vast  oceans  which  roll  along  its 
extensive  coasts,  and  nations,  easterly,  senile  in  contrast,  and, 
westerly,  creeping  into  maturity,  realms  where  all  is  to  be 
found,  save  that  energy  which  has  made  our  Republic  what  it 
is.  Many  of  us  who  are  now  present,  were  a  few  minutes  since 
in  the  very  Hall  adjacent,  where  the  signers  of  the  Declaration 


70  THE     NATIONAL 

of  Independence  made  their  names  immortal,  have  come  into 
this  open  area,  where  the  very  sun  shining  over  us  seems  by 
his  •  servant-rays  to  glow  in  sympathy  with  the  enkindled 
flame  of  patriotic  ardor  which  animates  every  loyal  soul  here 
and  throughout  this  great  and  glorious  republic. 

You  to-day  have  here  already  heard  eloquent  words  in  refe- 
rence to  the  memorable  individuals  who  participated  in  the 
"  times  that  tried  men's  souls" — of  the  patriots  who  first  demon- 
strated those  vital,  pregnant  verities,  now  made  deathless. 

It  was  a  memorable  saying  of  a  Lord  Chancellor  of  England 
that,  from  the  father  were  derived,  chiefly,  the  moral  quali- 
ties, but  from  the  mother,  the  intellectual.  "Whether  or  not 
this  saying  is  true  or  incorrect,  it  is  not  now  my  intention  to 
investigate.  It  is  here  introduced,  because  this  reflection  is 
suggestive  of  a  subject-matter  which  deserves  especial  conside- 
ration on  an  occasion  so  interesting  as  the  present,  when  the 
influences  which  shaped,  and  the  minds  which  originated,  the 
vital  measures  previously  mentioned,  deserve  especial  regard. 

The  glorious  document,  the  aegis  of  our  national  character, 
contained,  as  has  been  said,  "glittering  generalities."  It  need- 
ed, alas,  the  blood  of  patriotic  men  to  weld  the  substance  thus 
misrepresented,  into  adamantine  solidity,  perishable  only  with 
the  national  faith,  that  cannot  die.  And  have  the  men  of 
America  alone  wrought  out  these  existing  results?  Look 
back  upon  the  past,  and  hear  the  deathless  notes  which  pro- 
claim the  mother's  intellectual  training  of  her  offspring; 
likewise,  the  daughter,  recalling  the  mother's  virtuous  teach- 
ing, when  assuming,  in  her  turn,  the  duties  of  a  wife  and 
mother,  aid  in  perpetuating  this  influence,  and  assist  in  giving 
vigor  to  manly  thought,  and  its  teachings.  Shall  not  the 
mother  and  the  wife  of  the  "  Father  of  his  Country"  receive 
this  day  a  tribute  worthy  of  the  influence  which  made  the  son 
and  husband,  "First  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen"? 

The  susceptible  nature  of  the  growing  child,  gradually  influ- 


CENTENNIAL  COMMEMORATION.          71 

enced  by  the  tender,  watchful,  and  judicious  training  of  the 
mother,  is  as  the  plastic  clay  under  the  skilful  touch  of  the 
master  sculptor,  taking,  almost  imperceptibly,  its  loveliest 
shape.  The  watchful  care  of  the  loving  mother  ever  exerted 
to  guard  and  keep  her  "jewels ;"  her  pure  and  gentle  counsels, 
and  her  tender  admonitions,  act  on  her  offspring  as  the  sculp- 
tor's touch  upon  the  marble,  and  eventually  insures  an  ample 
reward.  The  famed  Cornelia,  the  mother  of  the  Gracchi,  fur- 
nishes us  an  illustration  familiar  to  every  student.  Where,  in 
the  annals  of  the  old  or  of  the  new  world,  shall  a  mother  be 
found  who  can  proudly,  and  beyond  comparison,  say  of  her  sou 
as  Mary,  the  mother  of  Washington,  might  with  truth  have 
said  of  her  unparalleled  son,  "  Here  is  my  jewel,  without  com- 
pare," the  brightest  "jewel"  recorded  in  history. 

Let  us  now  review  the  circumstances  which  were  instru- 
mental in  placing  Washington  in  a  position,  resulting  from 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  which  eventually  led  to 
its  consummation. 

In  America,  the  first  attempt  to  secure  the  benefits  arising 
from  harmony  of  thought  and  action,  which  in  a  national  body 
of  earnest  men  is  so  apt  to  follow  thorough  discussion,  was 
made  by  William  Penn,  whose  ability  and  wisdom  led  him  to 
perceive  that  some  concert  of  action  should  be  adopted  for  the 
settlement  of  difficulties  and  disputes  between  the  provinces, 
and  in  order  that  their  integrity  as  well  as  the  safety  of  their 
inhabitants  might  be  rendered  more  secure.  To  this  end  he 
proposed,  as  early  as  1697,  to  the  Board  of  Trade  a  "  Plan  for 
a  Union  of  the  Colonies  in  America." 

The  attempt  of  France  to  shut  out,  so  to  speak,  the  English 
settlements  in  Xorth  America  from  the  vast  opportunities  for 
gain  arising  from  free  intercourse  with  the  interior  of  the 
country,  and  the  attempt  of  this  nation  to  secure  the  aid  of 
the  Indian  tribes  in  a  contest — the  result  of  which  could  not 
for  a  moment  be  a  matter  of  doubt,  were  it  not  that  such  ad- 


72  THENATIONAL 

ventitious  aid  was  invoked  or  employed — led  to  a  proposal  for 
a  Congress  (similar  to  that  which  Penn  had  suggested)  which 
was  originally  devised  by  a  former  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
Pennsylvania,  Sir  William  Keith.  This  gentleman,  in  1739, 
recommended  to  the  ministry  of  Great  Britain  a  method  for 
the  formation  of  a  union  of  the  Colonies  in  America,  the  plan 
proposed  being  that  delegates  from  their  representative  bodies 
should  unite  and  form  a  sort  of  general  provincial  government. 
It  does  not  appear  that  either  of  these  proposals  served  airy 
other  purpose  than  that  of  drawing  the  attention  of  the  people 
to  the  subject. 

The  first  actual  American  Congress  had  its  origin  in  a  re- 
commendation from  the  British  government,  that  a  call  be 
issued  for  a  convention  of  delegates  from  the  several  Colonies, 
and  naming  Albany  as  a  proper  place  of  meeting.  This  call 
was  issued  in  1754,  and  was  due  to  the  British  ministry  taking 
alarm  at  the  possible  action  of  the  Indian  tribes,  in  the  event 
of  France  continuing  her  threatening  proceedings,  which, 
though  not  as  yet  actually  hostile,  seemed  on  the  eve  of  be- 
coming so.  The  ascendency  which  the  French  had  acquired 
over  the  Indian  race  in  America  grew  in  proportion  as  they 
became  more  intimate,  and  with  such  allies  as  the  savage  war- 
riors, the  French  settlers  hoped  to  conquer  their  rivals,  and 
secure  possession  of  the  entire  country. 

This  first  Congress  met  at  Albany,  the  call  having  been  ad- 
dressed to  the  Governor  of  New  York,  and  the  plan  of  union 
offered  by  Benjamin  Franklin,  a  delegate  from  Pennsylvania, 
was  received  by  his  colleagues,  with  a  high  degree  of  favor, 
and  finally  accepted.  Notwithstanding  this  almost  unani- 
mous approval  by  the  delegates  in  convention,  it  was  rejected 
by  the  Colonies,  and  came  to  nought.  It  was  the  persistence 
with  which  the  inhabitants  of  each  colony  refused  to  imperil 
its  individual  independence,  by  any  concession  of  rights  to 
a  general  government,  that  defeated  this  project.  While 


CENTENNIAL  COMMEMORATION.          73 

such  a  union  as  was  proposed  would  have  materially  as  well 
as  morally  strengthened  the  individual  colonies,  and  enabled 
them  the  better  to  overcome  the  immediate  dangers  of  the 
local  situation,  it  would  also  have  enabled  them  to  assert 
their  rights  in  the  face  of  aggressive  action  on  the  part  of 
the  home  government;  and,  indeed,  the  British  ministry  could 
not  but  regard  the  plan  proposed  by  Franklin — which  did  not 
differ  essentially  from  that  previously  brought  forward  by 
Penii — as  other  than  inimical  to  their  distant  jurisdiction. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  examine  more  fully  the  pro- 
ceedings of  this  first  American  Congress,  held  over  one 
hundred  and  twenty-two  years  ago.  As  has  been  stated,  the 
call  issued  by  the  British  Secretary  of  State  was  addressed, 
by  order  of  the  King,  to  the  Governor  of  New  York.  In 
response  to  this  call,  there  assembled  at  Albany,  on  the 
19th  of  June,  1754,  the  memorable  Congress  of  Commis- 
sioners representing  every  colony  north  of  the  Potomac  ex- 
cept New  Jersey,  including  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire, 
Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland,  with 
Virginia  represented  in  the  person  of  the  distinguished  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor De  Lancey,  of  New  York,  who  was  the  pre- 
siding officer.  This  Congress  had  for  its  chief  objects  the 
consideration  of  means  of  defence,  and  of  entering  into  some 
treaty  with  the  powerful  Six  Nations  and  their  allied  tribes. 
On  the  24th  of  June  a  motion  was  made,  and  passed  in  the 
affirmative,  that  the  commissioners  deliver  their  opinion  whe- 
ther a  union  of  all  the  Colonies  is  not  at  present  absolutely 
necessary  for  their  security  and  defence,  and  a  committee  was 
accordingly  appointed  to  devise  a  plan.  On  the  28th  of  June 
this  committee  presented  short  hints  of  a  scheme  for  the 
union.  After  considerable  debate,  the  question  was  put  on  the 
2o  OF  JULY,  whether  the  Board  should  proceed  to  form  the  plan 
of  a  Union  of  the  Colonies,  to  be  established  by  an  act  of  Par- 
liament, and  was  passed  in  the  affirmative.  Debate  on  this 
10 


74  THE     NATIONAL 

question,  and  on  Indian  affairs,  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
Board  until  the  9th  of  July,  when  a  plan  for  a  union  was 
agreed  upon,  and  Mr.  Franklin  was  desired  to  make  a  draft  of 
it,  as  then  concluded  upon.  On  the  10th,  after  thorough  con- 
sideration, it  was  resolved  that  the  commissioners  from  the 
several  governments  be  desired  to  lay  the  plan  before  their 
respective  constituents  for  their  consideration,  and  that  the 
Secretary  of  this  Board  transmit  a  copy  thereof  to  the  Gover- 
nor of  each  of  the  Colonies  which  have  not  sent  their  commis- 
sioners to  this  Congress.  On  the  llth  of  July,  of  the  same  year, 
the  Congress  adjourned. 

After  seven  years  of  suffering,  the  struggle  known  in  his- 
tory as  the  "French  "War,"  terminated.  Canada  had  been 
wrested  from  the  French,  and  the  Colonies  had  covered  them- 
selves with  glory.  The  Home  government  was,  however,  ap- 
parently dissatisfied,  its  desire  seeming  to  be  that  the  colonists 
should  be  compelled  to  pay  the  cost  of  this  struggle.  Indeed, 
the  most  arbitrary  steps  were  taken  and  insisted  upou,  and 
this,  too,  despite  the  remonstrances  and  appeals  which  poured 
in  from  every  province.  I  am  aware  that  the  so-called 
"  invention"  of  the  Revolutionary  committees  of  correspond- 
ence has  been  claimed  for  Samuel  Adams,  of  Massachusetts ; 
but  it  is,  nevertheless,  a  matter  of  record  which  cannot  be 
disputed,  that  the  Assembly  of  New  York,  as  early  as  1764, 
six  years  before  the  Massachusetts  "  invention,"  and  nearly 
nine  years  before  the  movement  in  Virginia,  appointed  a  com- 
mittee of  correspondence  with  the  Assemblies,  or  committees 
of  Assemblies  throughout  the  Continent,  with  the  direct  and 
avowed  purpose  to  avert,  if  possible,  the  "  impending  dangers 
which  threatened  the  Colonies,  of  being  taxed  by  laws  to  be 
passed  in  Great  Britain ;"  and  less  than  a  year  afterward 
sounded  the  keynote  of  the  Revolution — Independence — in 
the  publications  attributed  to  John  Morin  Scott.  The 
honored  historian  of  America  gives  this  fact  its  proper  place 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  75 

in  his  summary  statement :  "  Virginia  marshalled  resistance  ; 
Massachusetts  entreated  union ;  New  York  pointed  to  inde- 
pendence." At  last  a  Congress  was  called  by  the  Committee 
of  the  New  York  Assembly,  and  met  in  New  York  in  1765 ; 
it  was  called  the  Stamp  Act  Congress,  and  gave  utterance  in  a 
bold  and  decided  manner  to  the  grievances  under  which  the 
colonists  labored,  and  made  an  earnest  declaration  of  rights. 
The  resistance  which  was  being  offered  to  the  enforced  pay- 
ment of  a  stamp  duty  on  goods  brought  into  the  Colonies  now 
assumed  definite  and  permanent  shape;  but  the  announcement 
came  from  New  York  that  she  would  give  in  her  adherence  to 
no  course  of  action  other  than  that  inaugurated  by  a  General 
Congress. 

Massachusetts  finally  took  the  same  view  of  the  matter, 
and  in  September,  1774,  there  met  in  this  city,  what  was 
known  as  the  first  Continental  Congress.  As  yet,  except 
among  a  few  of  the  most  dissatisfied  of  the  colonists,  there 
was  no  desire  for  separation  from  the  mother  country.  The 
most  visionary  would  hardly  dare  even  hope  for  a  successful 
independent  existence.  After  more  than  a  month  of  earnest 
consideration  the  Congress  dissolved  on  the  26th  of  October, 
1774.  The  gist  of  their  proceedings  was,  First,  an  assertion 
of  the  equal  rights  of  the  colonists  with  other  members  of 
the  British  empire ;  and,  Second,  the  passing  of  declarations 
and  resolves  against  the  importation  of  merchandise  from 
abroad,  which  were  to  be  rigidly  and  emphatically  regarded. 
Finally,  the  proceeding  culminated  in  a  petition  to  the 
King,  which  was  unsuccessful.  Before  adjourning,  provi- 
sion was  made  for  a  second  Congress,  to  meet  about  a  year 
later  in  the  same  place.  When  we  consider  the  consequences 
resulting  from  this  act  of  foresight  we  must  regard  this  pro- 
vision as  an  almost  providential  one,  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
measure  is  certainly  deserving  of  the  most  unqualified  praise. 
An  opportunity  was  allowed  for  a  consideration,  in  England, 


7G  .       THE    NATIONAL 

of  the  petition  sent  to  the  King,  should  this  direct  appeal  to 
the  crown  fail  to  secure  relief;  then  more  strenuous  efforts 
would  become  necessary ;  and  what  time  so  favorable  for  their 
inauguration  as  when  smarting  under  injustice  and  insult? — 
the  very  hopelessness  of  the  situation  would  serve  as  a  com- 
jnon  bond  among  the  Colonies.  Prudent,  faithful,  and  respect- 
ful, with  a  full  comprehension  of  all  that  was  required  by  the 
occasion,  there  must  have  dawned  upon  even  the  staunchest 
adherents  to  the  crown  in  that  body  the  conviction  that  a 
struggle  was  imminent.  To  the  dissenting  there  must  have 
come  a  kind  of  secret  delight  that  the  eve  of  separation,  the 
dawn  of  a  new,  untrammelled  existence,  was  so  rapidly  ap- 
proaching, and  that  speedily  the  wrath  of  an  oppressed  people 
would  find  vent.  Despite  this,  however,  the  colonists  were 
full  of  loyalty,  and  proud  of  their  connection  and  descent, 
and  the  hope  was  pretty  generally  indulged  that  through  the 
efforts  of  the  great  Whig  party  in  England  some  relief  or 
redress  would  be  obtained,  and  tranquillity  again  restored. 

Subsequent  events  showed  how  futile  was  any  hope  based 
on  aught  save  the  most  abject  submission  to  whatever  mea- 
sures, however  unjust,  the  home  government  chose  to  impose. 
This  ignoble  alternative  was,  fortunately  for  humanity,  re- 
fused, and  fittingly  so,  by  men  worthy  of  their  lineage.  In 
1775  all  hope  of  a  peaceable  adjustment  of  difference  had 
ceased.  There  did  not,  however,  now  take  place  an  immediate 
and  universal  uprising  of  an  intelligent  and  injured  people, 
but  a  slow  revulsion  of  feeling  began  to  take  possession  of 
men's  hearts  and  steadily  spread  throughout  the  land,  and  this 
feeling  became  so  deeply  intense  that  years  of  the  blackest 
misery  and  privation  did  not  suffice  to  extinguish  it. 

A  glance  at  the  situation  will  show  that  the  condition  of 

•  the  colonists  at  this  period  was  most  deplorable.     Surrounded, 

so  to  speak,  by  tribes  of  savages,  who  were  so  much  better 

managed  by  the  government  than  at  the  present  day  that 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  77 

their  allegiance  to  the  crown  could  be  relied  on  to  count  pow- 
erfully against  the  colonists  should  they  rebel;  with  local 
assemblies  no  longer  in  accord  with  the  people ;  with  the 
daily  opposition  coming  from  the  recipients  of  royal  favor  and 
patronage,  and  the  dangerous  hesitation — fortunately  of  late 
years  almost  extinct — with  which  the  wealthy  throw  their, 
influence  into  the  scale,  all  combining  to  increase  the  gravity 
of  the  situation,  resulted  in  a  state  of  aftairs  sufficient  to  appal 
even  the  stoutest  heart. 

Ere  the  second  Continental  Congress  had  assembled,  the 
minute-men  of  Lexington  had  set  the  country  ablaze  with 
patriotic  fervor.  The  news  of  the  battle  of  the  19th  of  April 
reached  New  York  about  the  23d,  and  electrified,  as  it  could 
not  well  fail  to  do,  the  entire  people.  What  now  were  wealth 
and  comfort,  even  life  itself,  when  their  sacrifice  was  called  for 
by  the  stern  demands  of  right  and  duty  ?  In  the  midst  of  this 
exciting  state  of  affairs  the  second  Continental  Congress  con- 
vened. No  longer  in  doubt  as  to  the  course  to  pursue,  the 
people  everywhere  urged  their  representatives  to  break  the 
yoke  that  held  them  in  slavery  to  the  mother  country.  The 
most  decided  approval  was  given  to  such  a  course  by  the  peo- 
ple of  New  York,  and  the  provincial  Congress  of  that  State 
was  petitioned  to  "instruct  their  delegates  in  Continental  Con- 
gress to  use  their  utmost  endeavors  in  that  august  assembly  to 
cause  these  United  Colonies  to  become  independent  of  Great 
Britain." 

This  immortal  second  Continental  Congress  was,  we  see, 
thoroughly  in  consonance  with  the  popular  feeling.  Unlike 
similar  bodies  in  subsequent  times,  the  individuals  com- 
posing this  Congress  sought  not  their  own  aggrandizement, 
nor  material  benefit.  Full  to  overflowing  with  the  sacred- 
ness  of  their  trust ;  glowing  with  patriotic  ardor,  yet  deeply 
conscious  of  the  gravity  of  their  actions  and  the  dire  conse- 
quences they  were  probably  to  entail  upon  themselves  and 


78  .        THENATIONAL 

upon  those  whom  they  held  most  dear;  thoroughly  satis- 
fied that  they  gave  expression  to  the  will  of  the  whole 
people,  they  made  that  declaration  of  rights  and  principles, 
and  uttered  that  resolve  to  be  free  which,  running  on  through 
a  round  century,  has  ever  been  to  the  down-trodden  arid  op- 
pressed a  burst  of  light  as  if  from  the  very  foot  of  the  Throne 
of  the  Most  High.  To  the  fulfilment  of  these  resolves  they 
pledged  "their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor.'"' 

We  have  followed  American  Congresses  from  the  beginning 
of  the  necessity  for  their  existence  down  to  the  very  acm£  of 
their  usefulness,  attained  in  the  instance  we  have  just  consid- 
ered. Enshrined  forever  in  the  highest  place  in  the  estimation 
of  freedom-loving  mankind,  let  us  leave  the  consideration  of 
the  most  august  and  patriotic  assembly  of  modern  times,  per- 
haps without  a  parallel  since  the  assembling  of  the  apostles 
around  the  Master,  in  its  effects  upon  the  welfare  and  eleva- 
tion of  the  human  race,  and  seek,  by  the  emulation  of  its 
deeds  of  heroic  patriotism,  to  reinaugurate  that  noble  self- 
denial,  that  earnest  integrity  of  purpose,  that  consideration 
and  love  for  our  fellow-man,  which,  reacting  through  ages, 
may  finally  fit  mankind  for  a  higher  state  of  beatitude. 

Having  thus  considered  the  origin  and  cause  of  the  great 
results,  which  through  the  past  century  have  flowed,  with 
but  here  and  there  an  interruption  of  brief  .duration  and  for- 
tunately overcome,  steadily  along  the  stream  of  time  down  to 
the  present  day,  with  its  glorious  realization  and  astonishing 
possibilities,  justice  to  a  most  important  element  in  the  con- 
summation of  these  results  demands  a  consideration  of  the 
influence  exerted  by  wroman,  who,  in  all  times  and  in  every 
country,  has  been  largely  instrumental  in  the  shaping  of  events. 
It  is  both  instructive  and  interesting  to  trace  the  influence 
of  the  sex,  in  the  earliest  ages  known  to  us,  when,  on  an  occa- 
sion like  the  present,  a  great  public  event  was  to  be  commemo- 
rated. 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  79 

Among  the  ancient  Hebrews,  the  office  of  announcing  and 
celebrating  good  news,  or  glad  tidings,  on  the  occasion  of  any 
great  public  event,  belonged,  as  learned  men,  familiar  with 
their  records  declare,  peculiarly  to  the  woman.  Not  in 
ancient  times  alone  has  the  influence  of  woman  been  felt  in 
the  affairs  of  nations.  The  history  of  all  ages  testifies  to  the 
prominent  part  taken  by  her  in  the  shaping  of  events.  Sure- 
ly, from  no  more  beautiful  source  than  from  the  teachings 
of  the  tender  mother,  and  the  encouragement  of  the  loving 
wife,  could  come  the  love  of  God  and  country ;  from  no  purer 
fountain  on  earth  could  flow  the  teachings  which  inculcate 
those  noble  virtues  and  heroic  qualities  which  assist  so  might- 
ily in  the  elevation  of  mankind.  Not  merely  the  teachings 
of  woman,  but  her  love  and  example  have  ever  inspired  to 
the  loftiest  deeds,  and  the  most  magnificent  achievements. 
Gentle,  but  earnest,  her  counsels  have  always  been  powerful 
in  their  antagonism  to  oppression,  cruelty,  and  wrong.  In 
patriotic  fervor,  oftentimes  excelling  the  male  sex,  tempered 
as  were  the  latter  by  actual  experience,  it  w^ould  seem  that 
their  very  physical  helplessness  lent  greater  weight  to  the 
suggestions  of  their  active  intellects,  and  proud,  but  loving 
hearts.  What  greater  incentive  to  valiant  conduct,  after  a 
knowledge  of  the  demands  of  his  country,  can  be  conceived, 
than  the  Spartan  soldier  received  from  his  mother,  when, 
leaving  her  side  for  the  field  of  battle,  he  received  from  her, 
with  his  shield,  the  parting  injunction  to  return  "with  it,  or 
on  it." 

Is  it  possible  that  any  one  will  challenge  the  claim  thus 
made,  and  which  concedes  the  powerful  influence  of  woman? 
Scarcely !  for  has  not  every  soldier  had  one,  if  not  both  of 
these  blessings — a  beloved  mother,  or  a  beloved  wife?  Who 
does  not  know  their  power  as  pleaders,  when  enlisted  by  sym- 
pathy with  a  good  cause  ? 

"  Like  rainbows  on  the  cloud  of  war, 
The  harbingers  of  victory." 


80  THENATIONAL 

As  I  have  referred  to  these  portents  of  the  sky,  let  me  close 
the  thought  thus  suggested  with  the  adjuration  of  ^Eneas, 
when  he  was  about  to  wage  a  war  which  he  deemed  just. 

"  Ye  springs,  ye  floods,  ye  various  powers  that  lie 
Beneath  the  deep,  or  tread  the  golden  sky, 
Hear  and  attest." 

The  Centennial  Ode,  written  by  S.  C.  Upham,  music  by 
Adam  Geibel,  was  then  sung  by  the  chorus,  after  which  Mr. 
Wallace  came  to  the  stand  and  said  : — 

Our  hope  was  that  the  distinguished  and  eloquent  Mr. 
Lamar,  of  Mississippi,  would  be  with  us  to-day,  but  a  tele- 
gram just  received  from  him  states  that  he  has  been  taken  ill, 
and  obliged  to  leave  the  cars  at  Wilmington,  on  his  journey 
hitherward.  I  present  to  you  in  his  stead  the  Hon.  Francis 
Putnam  Stevens,  of  Maryland,  who,  in  his  office  of  Chair- 
man of  the  Centennial  Committee  of  Maryland,  has  done  so 
much  to  attach  our  citizens  to  him,  and  to  bring  to  this 
venerable  spot  from  that  State  which  I  have  named,  so  many 
sons  of  those  honorable  fathers  who  bore  a  great  part  in  what 
was  done  here  a  century  ago. 

REMARKS  OF  MR.  STEVENS. 

I  have  been  accorded  an  honor  of  which  I  am  deeply  sen- 
sible.^ I  had  not  the  most  remote  idea  of  addressing  this 
vast  assemblage  until  this  moment.  I  had  come  to  deposit 
my  brief  memoir  of  John  Henry,  Jr.,  of  Maryland,  in  the  old 
Chamber  of  Liberty,  and  to  be  but  a  silent  participant  in  the 
exercises  of  the  day. 

I  cannot  expect  to  fill  the  place  of  the  distinguished  gen- 
tleman from  Mississippi,  who  has  been  unavoidably  prevented 
from  being  present.  But  upon  an  occasion  like  this,  with  the 
grand  memories  of  the  past,  made  glorious  by  the  acts  of  our 
forefathers  just  one  hundred  years  ago,  in  yonder  building ; 


CENTENNIAL     COMMEMORATION.  81 

with  the  great  gathering  of  the  people  to  inaugurate  the  fes- 
tivities of  the  National  birthday,  I  cannot  be  silent ;  the  very 
stones  would  cry  out  if  America's  sons,  on  this  great  day, 
should  refuse  to  speak. 

Your  President  and  Committee  have  bestowed  a  high  com- 

O 

pliment  upon  the  State  of  which  I  am  an  humble  representa- 
tive. Maryland  greets  you  all  to-day.  Truly,  Pennsylvania  is 
the  keystone,  but  we,  of  Maryland,  one  of  the  original  thirteen, 
are  an  integral  part  of  the  great  arch,  equally  as  important  to 
the  strength  and  solidity  of  the  whole. 

The  Governor  of  Rhode  Island  has  referred  to  the  sentiments 
of  Roger  Williams,  and  spoken  in  eulogy  of  his  State.  Roger 
Williams,  William  Penn,  and  Lord  Baltimore  went  hand  in 
hand  in  the  same  great  cause.  Massachusetts  has  spoken 
through  her  distinguished  representative  to-day,  and  we  honor 
the  old  Bay  State  for  her  noble  part  in  the  struggle  for  inde- 
pendence, but,  Mr.  President,  a  proud  record  remains  for 
Maryland. 

The  Ark  and  the  Dove  upon  the  peaceful  shores  of  St.  Mary's, 
landed  our  Pilgrim  fathers ;  the  standard  which  Constantine 
saw  in  the  heavens  was  planted  upon  the  soil  of  Maryland,  and 
the  ensign  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  was  there  unfurled  first 
among  the  Colonies.  Maryland  bore  an  honorable  part  in  the 
effort  that  made  these  Colonies  a  free  and  independent  people ; 
and  upon  the  very  day  you  here  commemorate,  her  represen- 
tatives, in  Congress  assembled,  cast  a  unanimous  vote  in  favor 
of  Richard  Henry  Lee's  resolution,  "  that  these  Colonies  are, 
and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  States"  Maryland, 
through  her  representative,  Thomas  Johnson,  Jr.,  nominated 
in  those  halls  George  Washington  to  be  Commander-in-Chief 
of  "  the  armies  raised  and  to  be  raised,"  and  to-day  her  monu- 
mental city  points  with  just  pride  to  the  noble  shaft  she  alone 
has  reared  to  his  memory.  She  sent  here  such  representatives  as 
Samuel  Chase,  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  John  Henry,  Jr., 
11 


82  THE    NATIONAL 

Thomas  Johnson,  Jr.,  Thomas  Stone,  and  William  Paca,  She 
hoasts  "  The  old  Maryland  line,"  with  Howard,  Williams,  Gist, 
Smallwood,  and  others ;  she  gave  you  the  first  telegraphic  wire, 
the  first  canal,  and  the  first  steam  passenger  railway.  It  was 
Maryland  that  gave  to  you,  and  to  the  world,  your  national 
anthem,  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner."  There  the  Continental 
Congress  met ;  there  Washington  resigned  his  commission. 

But  why  enumerate  the  glories  of  Maryland  ?  This  is  a  na- 
tional occasion.  We  are  here  on  this  great  anniversary  from 
the  North  and  South  as  brethren.  I  need  not  refer  to  the 
deeds  of  Maryland,  but  I  would  say  of  her  as  Webster  said  of 
Massachusetts :  "  She  needs  no  eulogium  ;  there  she  stands ; 
look  at  her." 

I  rejoice  that  we  meet,  not  as  citizens  of  any  State,  but  as 
citizens  of  this  greatest  of  Republics.  There  was  a  time  when 
it  was  said,  "  to  be  a  Roman  citizen,  was  greater  than  to  be  a 
king."  The  time  will  come  when  it  shall  be  greater  than  to 
have  been  a  Roman,  to  be  a  citizen  of  these  United  States. 

We  all  rejoice  on  this  glad  day  together,  from  the  North, 
the  South,  the  East,  and  the  West,  in  this  land  of  liberty,  that 
the  precepts  of  our  fathers  have  made  and  preserved  us  a 
nation,  and  God  grant  that,  when  the  two  hundredth  anniver- 
sary of  America's  freedom  shall  dawn,  it  shall  find  us  all  a 
happy  and  united  people. 

The  Centennial  hymn  by  Fennimore  was  then  sung  by  the 
chorus.  At  its  conclusion  Mr.  Wallace  rose  and  said: — 

You  have  heard  from  Massachusetts,  from  Rhode  Island, 
from  New  York,  and  from  Maryland.  You  shall  now  hear 
from  the  State  which  welcomes  you  all  this  day.  To  citizens 
of  Pennsylvania  I  need  not  introduce  the  speaker.  We  all 
know  him.  We  all  admire  his  talents  and  his  accomplishments 
of  many  kinds.  To  the  citizens  of  other  States  and  of  foreign 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  83 

countries  I  beg  to  introduce  the  Hon.  Benjamin  Harris  Brews- 
ter,  lately  the  Attorney-General  of  Pennsylvania. 

EEMAEKS  OF  MR.  BREWSTER. 

The  remarks  I  shall  make  must  of  necessity  be  confined  to 
a  simple  subject,  and  a  few  reflections.  We  do  not  meet  to 
argue  or  discuss.  We  do  not  meet  to  enforce  opinions,  and 
solicit  public  action  in  support  of  doctrines,  but  we  meet  to 
testify  our  sense  of  gratitude  for  the  public  liberties  we  possess, 
and  the  social  and  domestic  comforts  we  enjoy,  the  fruit  of 
the  courage  and  wisdom  of  our  forefathers. 

Citizens  from  other  States  are  here  who  have  united  with  us 
in  these  great  ceremonies ;  others  are  here  who  will  succeed 
me,  and  I  must  be  cautious,  in  this  my  home,  not  to  occupy 
that  time  which  hospitality  requires  I  should  leave  open  to 
them. 

When  I  have  recalled  the  incidents  of  our  history  from  the 
earliest  days  of  colonial  existence  to  the  blessed  hour  when  it 
was  solemnly  declared  that  we  were,  "  and  of  right  ought  to 
be,  free  and  independent  States,"  I  have  observed  that,  in  all 
of  the  great  events  where  public  order,  private  right,  or  public 
duty  was  the  subject  of  popular  action,  they  proceeded  with 
deliberation,  and  with  a  rigid  regard  to  the  strict  forms  of 
legislative  order,  and  of  public  legal  enactment.  There  was  no 
mere  insurrectionary  spirit  in  the  men  from  whom  we  inherit 
the  liberties  and  the  government  we  now  possess.  Our  ances- 
tors were  no  insurgents.  No  element  of  the  conspirator,  out- 
law, or  communist  was  a  part  of  their  natures.  They  were 
serious,  God-fearing,  God-loving  men,  and  from  the  beginning 
had  solemn  work  to  do,  and  they  knew  it,  and  within  the 
strictest  forms  of  legal  order  they  asserted  their  natural  and 
legal  rights.  They  had  known  the  harsh  usage  of  adversity ; 
they  had  felt  its  discipline.  Many  of  'them  possessed  that 


84  THE     NATIONAL 

knowledge  which  is  the  fruit  of  study,  learning,  and  experi- 
ence, and  they  all  bowed  with  submission  before  the  obligations 
of  religion,  and  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  public  will. 

The  first  act  done  by  the  Pilgrims  of  the  Mayflower,  and 
just  before  they  landed,  was  the  organization  of  their  form  of 
government. 

Let  me  read  to  you  this  remarkable  paper,  that  you  may  hear 
and  know  how  cautious,  how  formal,  and  how  earnest  were 
those  men.  "  In  the  name  of  God !  Amen :  we,  whose  names  are 
underwritten,  the  loyal  subjects  of  our  dread  sovereign,  King 
James,  having  undertaken  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  Christian  faith,  and  honor  of  our  King  and 
country,  a  voyage,  to  plant  the  first  colony  in  the  northern 
parts  of  Virginia,  do  by  these  presents,  solemnly  and  mutually, 
in  the  presence  of  God,  and  one  of  another,  covenant  and  com- 
bine ourselves  together  into  a  civil  body  politic,  for  our  better 
ordering  and  preservation  and  furtherance  of  the  ends  afore- 
said, and  by  virtue  hereof  to  enact,  constitute,  and  frame  such 
just  and  equal  laws,  ordinances,  acts,  constitutions,  and  ofiices, 
from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be  thought  most  convenient  for  the 
general  good  of  the  Colony,  unto  which  we  promise  all  due 
submission  and  obedience." 

On  the  llth  of  November,  1620,  in  the  cabin  of  the  May- 
flower, before  they  had  placed  their  feet  on  this  Continent,  did 
these  true  men — forty-one  in  number — for  themselves  and  their 
families,  one  hundred  in  all,  thus  formally  bind  themselves  to 
obey  the  law.  They  had  fled  from  oppression ;  oppression 
inflicted  in  the  name  of  the  law.  Sixty-three  days  had  they 
been  tossed  upon  the  bosom  of  that  rough  sea,  and  in  the  dark 
November  days  were  they  about  to  make  their  homes  on  a 
bleak  and  barren  coast.  A  pitiless  winter  was  before  them,  a 
raging  ocean  behind  them,  and  a  wilderness  for  their  dwelling- 
place.  They  gave  no  thought  to  physical  discomforts,  but  with 
deliberation  did  they  thus  sit  down  and  first  consider  their 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  85 

public  and  social  duties,  and  thus  bind  themselves  to  obey  the 
law,  for  they  knew  that  from  order  and  obedience  only  could 
individual  happiness  and  social  prosperity  come.  They  had 
suffered  by  the  abuse  of  the  law ;  but  they  reverenced  obedience 
to  that  law,  which  is  the  product  of  public  will. 

Thus  was  it  with  all  the  Colonies  in  all  their  actions;  in 
their  domestic  contentions,  as  well  as  in  their  disputes  with 
the  mother  country,  were  the  constituted  forms  of  legal  enact- 
ment, legal  obedience,  and  legal  resistance  adhered  to. 

I  have  no  recollection  of  such  public  records  in  the  history 
of  any  other  people.  It  is  peculiar  to  us.  It  is  a  part  of  the 
glory  of  our  career,  that  the  pen  has  ever  been  mightier  than 
the  sword.  While  we  have  perpetuated  in  our  annals  the 
formal  declarations  of  our  principles  and  our  acts,  so  have  we 
likewise  in  the  same  way  embalmed  in  our  history  the  living 
words  recorded  at  the  time,  which  were  to  protect  us,  and 
teach  mankind  through  us  the  doctrines  we  had  maintained 
and  the  liberties  we  have  secured. 

With  us  the  sword  was  only  drawn  to  justify  the  written 
word,  that  uttered  the  convictions  of  the  very  souls  of  our 
great  ancestors. 

This  thought  I  shall  not  further  follow  by  reciting  each 
incident  of  public  action,  for  the  time  will  not  permit  me  so 
to  do.  The  incidents  illustrating  the  fact  are  too  numerous 
to  repeat.  When  in  the  fulness  of  time  our  grievances  had 
ripened  into  wrongs,  and  the  attempt  to  enforce  the  royal  will 
had  degenerated  into  acts  of  oppression,  then  too,  step  by  step 
as  we  approached  the  great  crisis  of  our  separation  did  the 
people  at  various  times  and  in  different  places  publish  and 
declare,  in  formal  and  apt  words  as  were  thereafter  published 
and  declared  here,  by  the  Continental  Congress,  that  we  were 
free,  and  of  right  ought  to  be  free  and  independent  States. 

Whatever  those  men  had  to  do  they  did  publicly — formally 
— lawfully.  Before  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  they  remon- 


86  THE    NATIONAL 

strated  in  resolutions  reciting  public  grievances.  They  sent 
Commissioners  to  London  to  assert  our  rights  and  resist  ag- 
gression. When  the  collision  was  inevitable,  like  an  assem- 
blage of  ambassadors  the  delegates  from  the  Colonies  came 
together  to  consider  the  remedies  they  demanded  and  resist 
the  wrongs  they  complained  of.  And  by  these  men  was  first 
enacted  the  resolution  that  absolved  us  from  our  allegiance. 
And  then  after  that  was  published  the  act  of  separation — that 
document  known  and  called  the  Declaration  of  Independence — 
a  document  that  contains  more  daring  and  self-demonstrating 
propositions  in  favor  of  human  rights  than  were  ever  before 
pronounced  to  mankind  by  philosophers  or  statesmen. 

Our  mission  was  one  of  liberty,  law,  and  public  order — the 
rational  liberty  of  freemen  restrained  by  a  sense  of  duty  and 
obedience  to  law — and  that  rule  have  we  lived  by  to  this  day; 

The  law  has  been  the  only  compensation  to  mankind  for 
political  tyranny  in  the  darkest  hours  the  world  ever  knew. 
It  must  be  supreme — for  then  God  is  supreme.  "  For,  he  who 
entrusts  man  with  supreme  power  gives  it  to  a  wild  beast — 
for  such  his  appetites  sometimes  make  him.  Passion,  too, 
influences  those  who  are  in  power — even  the  very  best  of  men 
— for  which  reason  the  law  is  intellect  free  from  appetite." 

Again  recurring  to  the  thought  I  started  with,  let  me  speak 
to  you,  and  through  you  to  the  millions  of  our  people  whose 
hearts  are  with  us  this  day,  and  whose  souls  exult  at  the 
moral  and  intellectual  grandeur  of  our  history,  and  at  the 
inevitable  splendor  of  our  great  future.  Let  me  congratulate 
you  that  we  came  of  such  a  lineage  of  heroic  men — the  states- 
men of  the  human  race — who  loved  God,  as  He  is  the  father 
of  natural  liberty — the  liberty  of  obedience  to  law  and  sub- 
ordination to  natural  and  social  duty.  Let  me  congratulate 
you  that  a  hundred  years  of  such  national  life  has  brought  us 
to  this  point  of  national  glory,  the  peaceful  glory  of  a  pros- 
perous people  of  forty  millions  who  sprang  from  the  few  who 


CENTENNIAL    COMMEMORATION.  87 

sought  refuge  here,  and  here  erected  a  temple  of  human  rights 
into  which  all  men  who  love  law  and  obey  order  can  enter 
and  find  happiness  and  peace. 

It  would  seem  as  if  Milton,  who  had  battled  for  the  rights 
of  those  exiles  who  were  our  forefathers,  had  predicted  the 
creation  and  growth  of  this  people.  Listen  to  him,  and  hear 
the  words  of  that  old,  blind  republican,  who  spake  as  man 
never  before  spake,  and  who  was  himself  one  of  the  greatest 
apostles  of  human  rights.  Listen  to  him : — 

"  Methinks  I  see  in  my  own  mind  a  noble  and  puissant  na- 
tion, rousing  herself  like  a  strong  man  after  sleep,  and  shaking 
his  invincible  locks;  methiriks  I  see  her  as  an  eagle  renevying 
her  mighty  youth,  and  kindling  her  undazzled  eyes  at  the 
full  mid-day  beams,  purging  and  unsealing  her  long-abused 
sight  at  the  fountain  itself  of  heavenly  radiance." 

As  he  predicted,  so  do  we  now  live  and  act,  and  may  it  last 
thus  forever! 

Mr.  Wallace  now  rose  again,  and  turning  to  the  gentlemen 
who  composed  the  Congress  of  Authors,  thanked  them  in  the 
name  of  Col.  Etting  and  of  the  City  Authorities  of  Philadel- 
phia, in  the  name  of  the  Committee  on  the  National  Centen- 
nial Commemoration,  and  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Penn- 
sylvania, "  and,"  said  he,  "  I  think  I  may  venture  to  say,  in 
the  name  of  the  august  Genius  of  History  itself,"  for  the  most 
valuable  contribution  which,  in  response  to  Col.  Etting's  invi- 
tation, they  had  made  to  the  historical  riches  of  the  Re- 
public. 

At  the  conclusion  of  these  remarks,  Mr.  Couly  sang,  with 
the  highest  effect,  the  Star  Spangled  Banner,  the  chorus  to 
which  was  sung  not  less  impressively  by  the  Musical  Associa- 
tion. Mr.  Conly,  being  encored,  repeated  the  last  verse. 

When  the  sound  of  this  beautiful  solo,  and  of  the  applauses 


88  THE     NATIONAL 

which  it  brought  forth,  had  died  away,  Mr.  Wallace  came 
forward  and  said : — 

South  Carolina  meant  to  be  with  us  this  day  in  the  person 
of  the  Rev.  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  D.D.,  of  Charleston. 
Of  what  family  he  is,  and  what  is  the  honor  of  that  name, 
which,  in  its  whole  length,  he  bears,  I  need  tell  no  American 
whatever.  No  more  patriotic  family  than  that  of  the  Pinck- 
neys  ever  belonged  to  our  country,  and  it  never  had  any  more 
brave,  disinterested,  unaffected,  and  honorable  member  than 
the  gallant  General  whose  name  is  now  borne  by  his  name- 
sake, a  soldier  of  the  Cross.  You  all  know  how,  in  1798,  in 
our, threatened  war  of  that  day  with  France,  when  a  question 
of  military  precedence  rose  between  General  Knox  and  other 
generals,  General  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney  sought — 
though  Washington  wished  him  high  in  command — to  prefer 
others  in  honor  to  himself.  "  Put  me  anywhere,"  he  said, 
"where  I  can  serve  the  country."  The  same  disinterested 
spirit  exhibited  itself  in  1812,  when  a  pure  and  patriotic  politi- 
cal party  desired  to  make  him  their  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency of  the  United  States;  an  honor  which  he  declined, 
because  he  thought  that  another  was  more  fit  for  it;  "the 
man,"  as  our  own  late  honored  citizen,  Charles  Chauncey, 
characterized  him  at  a  dinner  given  in  compliment  to  him  in 
1812 — "the  man  whose  love  of  honor  was  greater  than  his  love 
of  power,  and  deeper  than  his  love  of  self."  I  grieve  to  say 
that,  owing  to  an  accident  to  the  steamer  on  which  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Pinckney  is,  on  his  way  here — and  of  which  a  telegram 
apprises  us — the  reverend  gentleman  can  hardly  arrive  before 
this  evening ;  later  than  he  expected  to  be  with  us. 

I  will,  therefore,  ask  the  Right  Reverend  William  Bacon 
Stevens,  D.D.,  LL.D,  the  Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  official  suc- 
cessor in  the  Episcopate  of  Pennsylvania,  of  the  good  and 
patriotic  Bishop  White,  Chaplain  both  to  the  Continental 


C  E  N  T  E  IS7  N  I  A  L     COMMEMORATION. 


89 


Congress  and  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  to  dismiss 
us  with  a  benediction. 

The  Right  Reverend  gentleman  then  came  upon  the  stand, 
and  amidst  a  profound  and  reverent  silence,  dismissed,  with 
the  well-known  apostolic  words,  the  vast  assemblage. 


FINIS. 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

305  De  Neve  Drive  -  Parking  Lot  17  •  Box  951388 

LOS  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA  90095-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library  from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


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